Mar 1, 2016 3 min read

Drivers on Interstate 70 near Murtland Avenue in South Strabane Township should see nightly single-lane closures later this month as crews prepare to reconstruct the westbound lanes of the highway as part of the diverging diamond project.

The state Department of Transportation approved a request from Golden Triangle Construction of Imperial, the general contractor on the $51.2 million project to construct the diverging diamond interchange, to start nightly single-lane closures, March 21 as long as weather permits.

The traditional start date of construction work is April 1, but the contractor wanted to get moving on work to build crossovers that will be needed this year as westbound traffic is switched onto the eastbound side. The eastbound lanes were reconstructed last summer with the westbound lanes to be rebuilt this year between the north junction with Interstate 79 and the Beau Street interchange.

“They need to build six crossovers,” said Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer for PennDOT, who is overseeing the project. “Nothing is fixed, so if the weather is bad on a night or two, they won’t do any work.”

“Whatever can get done early helps us maintain our schedule,” he added, saying the project remains on target.

In addition to crossovers at each end of the project to move the westbound traffic over to the eastbound side and back again, Faieta said crossovers are also needed at the different ramps.

Crews will continue to work in the meantime on drainage in the median and highway lighting. Some signal work also will be done on Route 19.

Plans call for the switchover of westbound traffic to the eastbound side on April 13.

“The eastbound and westbound trafffic will be separated by a Jersey barrier,” Faieta said. “Last year, the lanes were 10 feet wide. This year, the lanes will be 11 feet wide. One foot doesn’t sound like much, but hopefully we won’t get the big trucks getting hung up.”

The bridge that takes the westbound side of the highway over Route 19 also will be replaced as part of the project.

Faieta said the speed limit in the construction zone will be 45 mph. Eastbound drivers will be asked to slow down starting near the Jessop Place interchange while the reduction will go in effect for westbound drivers between the south junction with Interstate 79 and Beau.

Work on the project began in September 2014 and is scheduled to be done by November 2017. Faieta said that the average daily traffic on that stretch in 2014 was 70,000 vehicles. He said that number is projected to increase to 90,000 vehicles a day by 2038.