PennDOT is taking a second look at its $35 million plan to improve traffic flow at the intersection of Saw Mill Run Boulevard and Library Road.
The project, which would widen the roads also known as Routes 51 and 88 and add turning lanes, would have moved traffic more efficiently, "but for that kind of money would not have been a huge improvement," PennDOT project Manager Jeffrey Clatty said Wednesday.
PennDOT selected SAI Consulting Engineers Inc. of Pittsburgh last month to look at alternatives that would provide more traffic flow improvements, Clatty said.
"Our main concern was benefit-to-cost," he said. "I think we can do better for not a whole lot more money."
Alternatives include transforming the congested intersection into a grade-separated interchange, like the new one at Route 51 and West Liberty Avenue at the Liberty Tunnels.
Clatty said the intersection of Routes 51 and 88 has one of the three highest traffic volumes in the region. About 100,000 vehicles use the intersection daily.
A one-car accident Wednesday morning on Route 51 closed all four lanes for 40 minutes, illustrating the hazards of the intersection.
Pittsburgh police said a southbound motorist was in the outside lane, just past Route 88, when a vehicle moved in front of her from the inside lane.
She told police she swerved to avoid a collision while going around a curve where the road narrows. Her car struck a fire hydrant, then a utility pole. She was taken by ambulance to Mercy Hospital with a minor leg injury, police said.
State Rep. Ralph Kaiser, a Brentwood Democrat, said the planned improvements not only will make the intersection safer, but also improve traffic movement "so you don't have to spend five or 10 minutes at that intersection."
"Taking a second look is well worth the money," Kaiser said of PennDOT hiring SAI Engineers. "I would rather pay a little more on the front end than build the doggone thing, then look back and say, 'I should have done this or that.'"
Clatty said he has been working on the design for the intersection project for about five years. PennDOT now is working on getting SAI under contract and should know the cost for the consultation next month.
Besides Routes 51 and 88, Ivy Glen, Hillview and Glenbury streets connect to form a six-way intersection.
Underneath, two branches of Weyman Run come together and flow into Saw Mill Run.
Clatty said the intersection flooded in 1999 and 2000, but not last year. While PennDOT does not do flood-control work, Clatty said, the department is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to ensure that flood control is part of the project.
By using temporary roads, PennDOT "will make every effort to maintain four lanes (of traffic) on Route 51 at all times" during the project, Clatty said.
Construction could start between three and five years from now, he estimated.
That allows time for a $4 million improvement to Route 88 between Route 51 and McNeilly Road, a project that must be done first. That work is set to begin in early spring and could take more than two years, Clatty said.
John Ekiert, PennDOT assistant district engineer in charge of construction, said that project will not add lanes to Route 88, but the existing lanes and shoulders will be widened, and curves in the road will be smoothed out, improving alignment with Route 51. Also, a small bridge will be replaced and a retaining wall built along the stream, Ekiert said.
