PRESS RELEASE
Northbound I-79 Neville Island Bridge Weekend Closure October 8-11
Final Northbound Weekend Closure in 2021
Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing the final northbound weekend closure on the I-79 Neville Island Bridge in Glenfield Borough and Robinson and Neville townships, Allegheny County, will occur Friday night, October 8 through Monday morning, October 11 weather permitting.
A full closure of the I-79 Neville Island Bridge in the northbound direction will occur from approximately 8 p.m. Friday night, September 17 continuously through 5 a.m. Monday morning, September 20 as crews conduct bridge and roadway concrete repairs, roadway patching, strip seal replacements, bridge jacking for steel repairs, bridge painting, and miscellaneous steel repairs.
To allow the work to occur, all northbound traffic will be detoured. Beginning at approximately 8 p.m. Friday night, the Pennsylvania State Police will begin a slow roll of northbound I-79 traffic at the Crafton/Moon (Exit 60) interchange and assist the contractor with reducing the roadway to a single lane of traffic. Police and the contractor will then close a single-lane of traffic on the southbound side of the Neville Island Bridge. Finally, at approximately 9 p.m. Friday night, another slow roll of northbound I-79 traffic will occur from the Crafton/Moon Run interchange. The police and contractor will guide all traffic to the detour route.
Posted Detour
- From northbound I-79, motorists will exit at the Coraopolis/McKees Rocks (Exit 64) interchange
- Turn left onto northbound Route 51 toward Coraopolis
- Once through Coraopolis, stay in the left-hand lane and follow the signs to Route 65 Sewickley
- Turn right and cross the Sewickley Bridge
- Turn right onto southbound Route 65 (Ohio River Boulevard)
- Take the left-hand ramp to I-79 toward Erie/Washington
- At the split, stay straight toward North 79 Erie
- Follow the 79 North Erie sign by turning left onto Kilbuck Street
- From Kilbuck Street, take the ramp to northbound I-79 toward Erie
- End detour
Motorists on northbound I-79 may want to consider using I-376 (Parkway West) to I-279 (Parkway North) to avoid the detour route.
Police will assist motorists at key intersections during peak travel times. Motorists should expect delays.
Work on projects along the detour route will not occur this weekend.
Additionally, a lane closure will occur on southbound I-79 on the Neville Island Bridge during the weekend construction.
The $43 million I-79 Neville Island Bridge Rehabilitation Project includes structural steel repairs, full structure painting, bearing and deck joint replacements, deck repairs and overlays, bridge barrier repair, substructure concrete work and drainage improvements. The project also includes concrete roadway reconstruction, guide rail replacement and preservation work on four sign structures. Additionally, preservation work will occur on the I-79 bridge over Deer Run Road, north of the Neville Island Bridge. Motorists will see ramp closures and single-lane and shoulder closures in each direction on I-79 during daylight off-peak and overnight hours. Other traffic impacts include four northbound weekend closures in 2021 and four southbound weekend closures in 2022. The overall project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2023.
The Trumbull Corporation is the prime contractor.
To help keep motorists informed as work progresses, PennDOT has created an email distribution list for the I-79 Neville Island Bridge rehabilitation including traffic advisories and construction updates. Enroll by sending email addresses to stcowan@pa.gov. Please write “Subscribe – I-79” in the subject line.
Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.
Thumbnail via Getty Images.