GVF Transportation - Creating Partnerships - News - WB I 76 DOWN TO ONE LANE THIS WEEKEND

Westbound Interstate 76 (Schuylkill Expressway) will be reduced to one lane at the University Avenue/Grays Ferry Avenue Interchange (Exit 346B) in Philadelphia from 10 p.m. Friday (Oct. 10) to 5 a.m. Monday (Oct. 13) for the placement of a new concrete surface on the adjoining nine-span and 16-span bridges carrying the expressway over the Schuylkill River, CSX railroad tracks, Grays Ferry Avenue and 34th Street, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) said today.

PennDOT is urging motorists to use SEPTA or take alternate routes this weekend instead of traveling west on I-76 between the Walt Whitman Bridge and University Avenue to avoid lengthy backups and delays.

Instead of using this stretch of westbound I-76, PennDOT advises drivers to follow Interstate 95 North to Interstate 676 West to reach I-76 in Philadelphia, or take I-95 South to Interstate 476 North to arrive at I-76 in Montgomery County.

In conjunction with the bridge operation, the Vare Avenue ramp to westbound I-76 will be closed from 10 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 9) to 5 a.m. Monday (Oct. 13) because the ramp enters the expressway on the structure over Grays Ferry Avenue. A posted detour will take motorists over University Avenue, 38th Street, Market Street and Schuylkill Avenue to reach I-76 West.

This coming weekend is the first of three weekends this year when westbound I-76 will be down to one lane for the placement of a new concrete overlay on the two bridges. The single-lane westbound pattern also is scheduled to be in place the weekends of October 31-November 3 and November 7-10.

In 2009, I-76 will be down to one lane on nine weekends.

"Motorists need to find another way to travel through the city on the selected weekends when I-76 is reduced to one lane at University Avenue to avoid lengthy delays," PennDOT District Executive Lester Toaso said. "We will utilize our message boards and coordinate with our transportation partners to notify drivers of the single-lane condition so they can choose to take an alternate route."

Toaso added that the work weekends are being scheduled as best as possible to avoid major events in the city and at the sports complex in South Philadelphia.

"We plan to begin work Friday at 10 p.m. since the Phillies' playoff game starts in the late afternoon, but we'll be sensitive to traffic flow in case the game goes into extra innings and finishes later than expected," he said.

PennDOT will have a tow truck on site throughout the weekend to assist stranded motorists and to quickly remove disabled vehicles from the I-76 construction area.

Weather permitting, crews will work weekends to replace expansion joints, remove one inch of old concrete pavement from the bridges and place a new one-inch concrete overlay on the structures. The concrete resurfacing and joint replacements will make the bridge decks water tight and extend the life of the decks 25 years.

The concrete resurfacing operation is part of PennDOT's $24 million project to rehabilitate and repair the two bridges. Construction began last March and is scheduled to finish in October 2009. The improvements consist of structural steel repair and painting; bridge wall replacement; and bridge deck repair and resurfacing.

Toaso said both bridges were in serious need of attention due to the deteriorated condition of their bridge decks, steel beams and related structural components that support the roadway. Both bridges were categorized as structurally deficient.

Built in the mid-1950s, the I-76 Bridge over Schuylkill River is 1,750 feet long and the I-76 Bridge over Grays Ferry Avenue is 1,630 feet long. Both bridges are 64 feet wide. The bridges carry two lanes of eastbound and westbound traffic.

I-76 carries 129,000 vehicles a day in the area of the University Avenue/Grays Ferry Avenue Interchange. The expressway's posted advisory speed in the construction zone is 40 miles per hour.

Buckley and Company of Philadelphia is the general contractor on the $23,949,427 million project that is financed with 90 percent federal and 10 state funds.