Routes 51-88 Realignment Project Draws Near

Short-term, slow-moving lane closures will occur on Route 51 between Stewart Avenue and Maytide Street in Pittsburgh's Overbrook neighborhood on Wednesday night, Aug. 14, as crews set up for future work on the large Route 51-Route 88 realignment project.

The restrictions will be in place from 7 p.m. on Wednesday through 6 a.m. on Thursday as traffic-control signs and devices are installed, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 11-0 news release.

Also according to PennDOT, the Pennsylvania American Water Company will have a single lane closed on Wednesday night (also from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.) on northbound Route 51 between Saint Norberts Street and Maytide for an unrelated project.

It has yet to be announced when full construction will begin for the realignment project, but it is expected to wrap up toward the end of 2014.

Highlights of the project, which is overseen by both PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration, include:

• The addition of a left turning lane that takes traffic from Route 51 North onto Stewart Avenue
• The addition of a righthand jughandle that takes traffic from Route 51 North around a nearby Rite Aid and allows that traffic to turn left onto Hillview Street, go straight onto Route 88, turn right onto Ivyglen Street or bear right onto Glenbury Street
• The elimination of left turns onto Hillview, Route 88 or Glenbury
• The elimination of left turns from Route 51 South onto Underwood or Ivyglen streets (toward Saint Norbert Parish)
• The elimination of a stoplight at the end of Hillview
• The elimination of anything but right turns from Hillview onto Route 51 South
• The widening of Stewart Avenue to accommodate increased traffic from Route 51 restrictions (Route 51 South traffic wanting to turn left onto Underwood or Ivyglen, and Hillview traffic wanting anything but a right turn will have to take Fairhaven Road to Stewart Avenue to the Route 51 jughandle.)
• Better defined traffic signals, crosswalks and other line paintings

Other improvements will include the addition of green spaces and sidewalks.