Traffic tangles ahead: Upcoming Tarentum Bridge project to last 3 years

It’ll be a long three years for Tarentum Bridge motorists once the span’s $97.5 million rehab project gets underway late next year or in early 2027.

A portion of the work will require a full closure, with much of the traffic likely rerouted through East Deer to New Kensington.

“We haven’t received exact information on what the process will be,” New Kensington Mayor Tom Guzzo said. “Once we receive it, we will plan accordingly with our police department regarding traffic and additional patrols.”

About 36,000 vehicles cross the Tarentum Bridge every day.

The project includes a new deck and sidewalk, steel and concrete repairs and bearings.

A pedestrian shuttle will be provided during sidewalk reconstruction.

Motorists will luck out for the main portion of the project: The deck across the Allegheny River will be replaced in half-widths to maintain traffic flow, PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said.

Ramp work, however, will require the bridge to be shut down. The suggested detour has yet to be finalized.

People will probably be diverted through East Deer to the New Kensington Bridge, which is just over 3 miles down Freeport Road.

“We will definitely cooperate with PennDOT, but we would expect that they would reimburse us for any extra traffic control costs we would incur,” said East Deer Commissioner Tony Taliani. “We will work with them to make it easy on the commuters, but it wouldn’t be fair for our taxpayers to have to pay for traffic control for a PennDOT project.”

Cowan said a two-year, $29 million project along the New Kensington Bridge is just about wrapped up. Only a few minor items remain.

Guzzo expects the city’s downtown commercial district will enjoy some extra traffic from the detour.

“I’m certain that our businesses will be very welcoming and accommodating,” he said.

The cost breakdown for the Tarentum Bridge is about $80 million for the main span and $17.5 million for the ramps, Cowan said.

PennDOT engineers are refining the pre-bid schedule, but the project is expected to last three years because of phased construction and peregrine falcon restrictions.

The state Game Commission in 2015 installed a special peregrine nest box on one of the bridge’s piers, near the New Kensington side.

A resident pair — a female with a dotted chest and a banded male — had fledged 20 youngsters since 2018, according to the birding blog Outside My Window. As of February, it appeared an unbanded male had flown in and taken the elder bird’s place, and, by May 24, three youngsters had fledged.

PennDOT officials said they would also assess the possibility of fencing to be installed on the downriver side of the bridge following the death of a New Kensington man who apparently jumped to his death from the span June 17.

There is fencing on one side of the bridge, where traffic flows toward Tarentum, because there’s a sidewalk there.

Cowan said the Tarentum Bridge was most recently rehabbed in 2012.