Motorists are reminded that the Rachel Carson Bridge, which links downtown Pittsburgh with the North Shore, is scheduled to close Monday through summer 2020.
The 97-year-old span, also called the Ninth Street Bridge, will get a new concrete deck, structural steel repairs and a fresh coat of Aztec Gold paint, according to Allegheny County Department of Public Works.
The cost is $23.3 million.
The bridge will be closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic beginning at 6 a.m.
Traffic will be detoured along the Andy Warhol Bridge — also called the Seventh Street Bridge — and Isabella Street.
The 18-month closure will allow for new bridge lighting and replacement of the bridge expansion dams and drainage systems. New sidewalks will also be poured.
Saxonburg-based Brayman Construction and Advantage Steel and Construction will complete the work, in partnership with PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.
When it reopens, the bridge will have three lanes of traffic instead of four, allowing for wider shoulders.
Motorists traveling into downtown will have one lane that leads onto the bridge and widens out to two lanes at Fort Duquesne Boulevard.
Those traveling from downtown to the North Shore will have one lane leading onto the bridge before it widens into two.
Walkers and bikers still will be able to use the Three Rivers Heritage Trail sections that sit at each end of the bridge.
The Rachel Carson Bridge is one of the three “Sister Bridges” along with the Warhol and the Roberto Clemente bridges. It is the only trio of identical bridges in the world and the first self-anchored suspension bridges in the United States.
Allegheny County targeted the Warhol Bridge in 2016-17 with a $26 million rehabilitation project.
Construction on the Clemente (or Sixth Street) Bridge is planned for 2021-22.
Tawnya Panizzi is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tawnya at 412-782-2121, ext. 2, tpanizzi@tribweb.com or via Twitter @tawnyatrib.
