Lokay Lane by Jim Lokay

Updates!

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:33:14 GMT

By popular demand, here's a status report on some major arteries:

1. PARKWAY EAST - work continues during off-peak hours on rehab work from Churchill to Edgewood/Swissvale, although Churchill section looks to be resurfaced at long last. Work was suspended over the weekend, and I suspect it will be for Labor Day Weekend as well.

2. PARKWAY WEST - crews continue rehabbing Greentree Road overpass. Single lane closures happened during off-peak hours, and work will continue through the fall.

3. PARKWAY NORTH - inbound reconstruction continues. The big shift to the HOV lanes is expected to continue through mid-September. I'll believe it when I see it! However, there's still the issue of the HOV lanes being closed into downtown, starting at Venture Street. PennDOT seems to be content at keeping things status quo, although I'll keep you posted.

4. BOULEVARD OF THE ALLIES - bridge construction continues through November at the earliest. Forbes Avenue restrictions were lifted about a week ago, finally giving drivers an extra lane into Oakland. This change really did alleviate some spillover onto the Parkway East outbound lanes.

What else is vexing you? Let me know!

Route 28 Reaction

Thu, 29 May 2008 12:04:20 GMT

I had to share an email I received yesterday, and I mentioned on the morning news today. Route 28 is a bad word (or rather, bad words) for so many drivers. The construction seems to be never-ending, and I truly sympathize with anyone who has to deal with the work. That being said, Nikki sent me this, and I think it encapsulates what so many are thinking!

Jim,

Now that 28 North construction has allowed for both lanes to open again, I cannot express how happy I am. After picking up my daughter from her daycare in RIDC park, it used to take me 45 minutes to get home, even if I went the back way down Fox Chapel Rd. It now takes me a miraculous 4 minutes to hit my Pgh Mills exit.

Is that unbelievable??

We’ve only lived here since March and never knew what it was like to have a decent drive home. It’s an unexplainable feeling that has left me that needed45 minutes of energy left to enjoy my daughter and husband and new place to live.

I just wanted to share with you.

Get Your Piece Of The Rock

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:20:38 GMT

Sometimes in life, it's the little things in life that make us happy.

...Maybe it's an unexpected cup of coffee from a co-worker.

...Or that five-dollar bill you find the pants you wore last week (I said a five, not a twenty - that personally makes me beyond happy, but it never happens.)

...Even getting a quick email from an old friend.

It's a little different at KDKA. Our list includes finding an extra spoon in your desk with which to eat your yogurt, realizing that pressing "D-7" on the vending machine in the breakroom dispenses pretzels for a dime, and finding a stash of bagels in the newsroom (yes, we think about food quite often.) However, I found a little surprise on my desk last week. From all outward appearances, it was nothing special. In fact, to most people, you wouldn't think of it as a surprise at all. With me, though, there's a little something in my head that gets a kick out of things, especially this one from our incredibly capable (and fellow Cal U alum) Chris Kunicki.

My gift was a rock. Not any rock, mind you, but a compact little rock that fell off of Route 28 during a recent round of blasting. I'm pretty sure it's only valuable function at this point is as a paperweight (and really, who uses those anymore?)

I'm not going to get philosophical about my rock. Who knows how long I'll keep it? Ahh, who am I kidding? I'm the guy who still has a sliver of ribbon from the grand opening of the North Versailles Super Wal-Mart in 1999, an autographed picture of New York State Lottery host Yolanda Vega, and a copy of my first speeding ticket.

Personally, I think ending up with literally a piece of the rock is pretty funny. For the thousands of people who are inconvenienced by the constant Route 28 blasting, it's probably not that humorous. Don't worry, though, as they continue the process, we can hold out hope that maybe this is truly the cure to all of those nasty problems we've seen along the 28 corridor in recent years. Then again, even if they succeed, another round of roadwork somewhere else on Route 28 will cause just as many backups.

Good News, Bad News

Mon, 05 May 2008 10:34:10 GMT

The good news: Route 28 blasting went with nary a hitch this weekend, it appears. Traffic was moving minutes later after an 8am blast broke up rocks along the hillside.

The bad news: We're now at about 2 hours and 30 minutes away from the Route 88 southbound closure. Remember, it closes at McNeilly Road and will remain shut down through Saturday night at 11 p.m.

Go Have a Blast!

Fri, 02 May 2008 13:52:41 GMT

Just a quick note -- PennDOT will be doing more rock blasting on Route 28 Saturday morning. They'll shut down Route 28 and Freeport Road, then do the blast around 8am. They haven't had a completely successful blast yet, so be prepared for detours just in case. Freeport Road will be the main artery if Route 28 can't be immediately reopened.

Weekend Warriors

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:03:13 GMT

Another weekend of roadwork over. Feels like "three down, 154 to go," doesn't it?

Let's review what you had to deal with out there:

Parkway East
The inbound lanes were closed all weekend between Churchill and Edgewood Swissvale. Crews are essentially tearing up parts of the road and rebuilding them in a single weekend. Of course, it just happened to be the weekend of:

Pitt graduation at the Petersen Events Center
Pirates vs. Phillies at PNC Park (with a fireworks night thrown in for good measure.)
Steelers Fan Blitz event at Heinz Field
And something about a little hockey game over at Mellon Arena.

Fortunately, although the plans typically call for the Parkway to be back open by 5am Monday morning, as usual, the work finished by 6:30pm Sunday night. That still doesn't make up for the long delays a lot of you encountered. For what it's worth, these closures (and there will be more on the way) aren't nearly as wide-ranging as last year's. Last time around, they had those bridges closed that lead right into the tunnels, so everyone had to detour around the barrels. This time, with the Edgewood/Swissvale ramps open, people living in the east (Edgewood, Swissvale, Forest Hills, Braddock, Rankin) are able to use some local detours to avoid the mess. However, when you think about it, it still takes a good number of cars off that detour route.

PennDOT hasn't come up with this weekend's plan yet, but when they do, I'll have it on KDKA-TV Morning News.

Route 28
First, PennDOT wanted to do blasting on Route 28 on Saturday morning at 7:55 am.

Then, they moved it to later that afternoon because site preparations weren't complete.

Then, it was rescheduled for Sunday, after the Pens and Pirates games, of course.

Then, it was canceled. They're working on another day to give it a go.

Parkway North/Crosstown Blvd.
Work continued on rebuilding some of those ramps off of the Veterans' Bridge and Bigelow Boulevard. Despite the fact those ramps lead right towards Mellon Arena, it's back open, and few incidents were reported.

As always, tell me what you think by clicking the comment button.