Category: News || By John Barna and Jason Togyer

Crews from Mosites Construction of Robinson Township are making steady progress on a new flyover ramp into the RIDC Industrial Park. The ramp at the foot of Coursin Street will connect Lysle Boulevard with the industrial park, located on the former U.S. Steel National Works site.

Construction is expected to be complete in November 2011.

City and county officials have said the ramp is essential to future development of the industrial park, which is currently accessible only via railroad crossings at Center and Locust streets.

A $6 million grant from the federal stimulus program made construction of the ramp --- budgeted at $10.9 million --- possible. Allegheny County public works officials are overseeing construction with assistance from the city, RIDC and the state Department of Transportation.

In a related story, city electrician Tom Rosso tells the Almanac that when the flyover ramp opens, the support arms for the traffic signals currently used at the intersection of Center and Lysle will be relocated to the intersection of Fifth and Market, Downtown. Recycling the support arms will mean a substantial savings for the city, Rosso says.

(Both photos: John Barna, special to Tube City Almanac)

. . .

Duquesne Bridge Work Planned: The ramp from the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge to southbound Route 837 will be closed tonight so that crews can begin repairing damage to the span, says Jim Struzzi, spokesman for PennDOT District 11.

Closures will continue to happen weeknights from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. through Dec. 3, or until the work is completed, except on Thanksgiving, he says.

The detour takes motorists through the "turnaround" at the Center Avenue intersection, and police will be on hand to direct traffic.

The work is being performed by Lone Pine Construction of Washington County under a $2.8 million contract with PennDOT, Struzzi says.

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