Opinion A Fine Point Road warriors: The long campaign to a better ...
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Route 28 is the road that's morphed over decades into a highway linking Pittsburgh with its northeast suburbs in the Allegheny River Valley. The outer miles are a true, modern, four-lane expressway; get closer to the city, though, in the zone between Millvale and the North Side also known as East Ohio Street, and it's a tight, curving road with traffic lights at the 40th Street and 31st Street bridges.
Even under good conditions, it can be a commuting challenge. Still, 60,000 vehicles use Route 28 on any given weekday.
The aim of the four-year, $120 million project is to make Route 28 a faster, safer, smoother-flowing highway -- with no traffic lights between Kittanning and the North Side. The package will require concrete, labor, engineering and driver patience.
Motorists began their big test last week, when they faced the closing of the left outbound lane just past the 31st Street Bridge. That leaves one lane open in that direction to a little beyond the intersection with the 40th Street Bridge. So far, drivers have taken the change in stride and the state Department of Transportation said there have been no colossal backups.
PennDOT has mapped an alternate route across the river in Lawrenceville. The detour is punctuated by traffic lights, but, on the bright side, it will acquaint suburbanites with one of the city's up-and-coming historic neighborhoods. The agency also has mounted six traffic cameras along the work zone to give motorists a peek at traveling conditions before they even get into their cars. (The views are available at www.dot.state.pa.us. Click PennDOT Near You, click District 11, then click Traffic Cameras on the lower right).
In short, PennDOT has taken great steps to ease Route 28 travelers into four years of necessary construction. Some drivers will tough it out, some will switch to the bus and some will choose alternate routes. While commuters have options, PennDOT does not.
It's time to modernize Route 28. The only alternative was to leave it as is -- and no one wants to go there anymore.
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