Nov 3, 2022 2 min read

The state Department of Transportation is planning to rehabilitate a small bridge on heavily traveled Route 88 in Speers Borough next year.

The transportation agency released the plans Tuesday and said the project will likely begin in April and continue for about five months with the expectation that the work will be completed by August.

The bridge carries traffic over an unnamed tributary that leads into the Monongahela River northwest of the Charleroi/Allenport interchange of Interstate 70.

The road will remain open throughout construction, although traffic will be shifted to the shoulders while crews work on portions of the bridge below the roadway. There could be short-term single lane closures at times while crews are working on the bridge and roadway.

There will be additional improvements to the roadway and adjacent hillside during the project, which is expected to cost between $800,000 and $1 million, according to PennDOT.

Details of the design and other information on the project can be found online through Nov. 15 at www.penndot.pa.gov/regionaloffices/district-12. Planning is in the final design phase by Green Tree-based engineering firm Gannett Fleming Inc.

PennDOT also announced this week intermittent single-lane closures on Route 18 in Washington between Oakland Avenue and Route 844 as construction crews there continue rehabbing the Jefferson Avenue corridor. PennDOT said crews from Plum Contracting on Monday began milling and paving Route 18 along both sides of Wylie Avenue, with the work scheduled to continue through the end of this month. The area has been under construction since 2020, and work is expected to be completed next summer, according to PennDOT.