Penn. construction set to break records

PennDOT's District 11 will meet or break a 2001 record of $215 million in road and bridge construction, mostly in Allegheny County. It will include work on the busiest section of I-79--5.5 miles between Bridgeville and the Parkway West--over the next two years. A second project on I-79 will involve $8 million worth of repairs and paving between Rte. 910 and Butler County line.

Allegheny County will hope to resolve design issues and start a $30 million rehabilitation of the Homestead Grays Bridge by fall. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will continue construction on the 6-mile, $220 million Findlay Connector toll road across from the entrance to Pittsburgh International Airport.

The Port Authority will begin boring twin tunnels under the Allegheny River, part of a $400 million light-rail extension to the North Shore and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh.

The "Mae West Bend" improvement on Rte. 8 and replacement of the Grant Ave. Bridge, erected 19 years ago as a temporary bridge, will get under way in Etna, and PennDOT is looking to start the estimated $21 million rehab of the 31st Street Bridge.