About $528 million in Southwestern Pa. roadwork detailed by PennDOT

About $528 million will be spent on more than 100 road projects across four Southwestern Pennsylvania counties this year, state transportation officials said Monday.

The work includes everything from reconfiguring a highway interchange in Rostraver to improving traffic signal features at nearly 50 intersections.

The projects represent a combined cost of about $528 million in federal and state funding for work in PennDOT District 12, which includes Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington and Greene counties.

Work to update and reshape the interchange at Interstate 70 and Route 51 has continued through two winters in Rostraver. When it’s done, it will be the second “diverging diamond” interchange in District 12, allowing drivers on Route 51 to make a left turn onto the interstate without making a potentially hazardous maneuver across an opposing lane of traffic.

Installed in 2016 at I-70 and Route 19 in Washington County, that pattern is achieved through a crossover of traffic lanes, controlled by signals.

“It’s probably one of the most expensive projects we’ve let in the district,” said Bill Beaumariage, District 12 assistant district executive for construction.

Included in the $120.6 million price are updates of a 3-mile section of I-70 and a 1.5-mile stretch of Route 51.

On Monday, after PennDOT wrapped up a media preview of District 12 construction plans at the Brownsville Borough office, contractors were busy adjusting traffic signals and signs on Route 51 in preparation for a planned April 8 shift in lane restrictions. Traffic will be limited to a single lane in each direction there for about 18 months.

As the construction season progresses, crews will focus on rehabilitating the Smithton High-Level Bridge that carries I-70 over the Youghiogheny River, east of the interchange, and replacing and realigning the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge across Route 51.

General contractor Golden Triangle Construction has been given until October 2027 to complete the project. But, Beaumariage, said, “We anticipate the physical work on the road will be done by the fall of 2026.”

In September, PennDOT plans to let bids for improvement of the Arnold City interchange on I-70, just to the west of the Route 51 juncture. Drawing less traffic, that interchange will have a regular diamond shape, but ramps will be lengthened to modern standards and a new roundabout will tie together multiple roads on the south side of the interstate.

That project is estimated to cost between $80 million and $90 million.

The Laurel Valley Transportation Improvement Project is another multi-year endeavor that is designed to improve safety while easing traffic flow along the Route 981 corridor between Mt. Pleasant and Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity. The road is undergoing some realignment and softening of curves while getting some updated intersections.

Work is slated to wrap up this fall on the southernmost of three segments, in Mt. Pleasant Township, at a cost of $55.2 million. Crews with Walsh Construction are beginning construction of a roundabout intersection in the village of Norvelt. Other roundabouts have been added at the intersections of routes 981 and 819 and at Route 981 and State Street.

“My top goal has always been to look for ways to improve safety and save people’s lives through advances in our transportation system,” District 12 District Executive Rachel Duda said.

Bridge work

PennDOT’s effort to update bridges and culverts includes a mix of replacement and rehabilitation projects.

In Westmoreland County, PennDOT is completing repairs to a culvert on West Leechburg Hill Road, while work is continuing on the I-70 bridge over the Monongahela River and the Route 30 bridge over the Pennsylvania Turnpike Route 66. Crews are just beginning work on the Route 136 bridge over Route 30 in Hempfield.

“We’re really focusing on preserving our assets so we can use our assets to the longest life cycle possible, and we’re getting all the use out of them before we replace them,” said Beaumariage.

PennDOT is taking different approaches to two bridges with historical significance.

In Brownsville, project planners expect to take two years to replace a bridge that carries Market Street over Dunlap Creek. Though short in length, the bridge has a long history and is not subject to any weight limit. Constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1839, it is recognized as the first cast-iron metal arch bridge in the nation.

“We will restore it to the condition and the look that it had in 1839,” Beaumariage said of the $8.9 million project. “We’ll actually disassemble the bridge, piece by piece, ship those pieces away to be re-fabricated and have any repairs that need done to them, and then we’ll reassemble the bridge, piece by piece.”

He said an adjacent pedestrian bridge will be constructed that will allow people to view the underside of the ground-breaking bridge.

“We want to preserve this great work of our ancestors,” he said.

The much longer Salina Bridge, which crosses the Kiski River between Bell Township in Westmoreland County and Kiski Township in Armstrong County, is a 118-year-old metal truss bridge.

It will be replaced with a new bridge located just downstream, in a $33.2 million project expected to be completed in summer 2027.

PennDOT is expected to contribute $665,000 to the Historic Metal Truss Bridge Capital Rehabilitation Program to mitigate the loss of the historic span. Pieces of the bridge will be preserved and given to the Bell Township Historical Society, while interpretive panels will be placed at the trailhead for the Roaring Run Watershed Association.

Other roads in Westmoreland where bridges are set to be replaced include:

• Route 711 over Hendricks Creek and a tributary to Tubmill Creek in Fairfield and St. Clair townships, and over a tributary to Loyalhanna Creek in Ligonier Township;

• School Road over Haymakers Run in Murrysville.

• Route 119 over a branch of Crabtree Creek in Hempfield.

• Route 356 over Pine Run and Hulton Road over a branch of Chartiers Run in Allegheny Township.

• Route 906 over Webster Hollow Run and Lenity School Road over Speers Run in Rostraver.

• Brush Creek Road over Brush Creek in Manor and Hempfield.

• Fairwood Manor Bridge over Tinkers Run in Irwin.

• Route 982 over a branch of Stony Run in Derry Township.

Keeping pedestrians safe

Addressing pedestrian safety, PennDOT plans to spend $871,000 throughout District 12 to update select traffic signals with buttons that people can push to trigger a signal indicating it’s safe for them to cross the street. The signal upgrades are planned at 48 sites, including 32 in Westmoreland County.

Responding to motorist safety concerns and crash histories, PennDOT is finishing installation of two overhead warning beacons: at Route 201 and Ridge Boulevard in Fayette County’s Dunbar Township; and at Route 217 and Pizza Barn Road in Derry Township.

PennDOT officials noted complaints about the Derry Township intersection and an increase in crashes there in recent years recommended it for a beacon and signs warning of cross-traffic.

“The one on Route 201 is completed, and the same thing is going up on Route 217,” said Angela Baker, District 12 transportation planning manager.