Motorists will wait on Route 28: Single-lane restriction hits the Harmar exit for 2 months

Motorists traveling Route 28 can expect yet another traffic hurdle — single-lane restrictions on the highway at the Harmar on- and off-ramps for two months, around-the-clock, starting Wednesday, May 25.

The new long-term, single-lane restrictions at Harmar Exit 10 are necessary for shoulder and lane widening and reconstruction, according to a PennDOT statement issued Monday.

In addition, the Harmar off-ramp to Route 910 will be restricted to a single lane.

Motorists have already been enduring single-lane restrictions for road work to alleviate the bottleneck at the Highland Park Bridge. That project doesn’t finish until 2023.

The highway’s traffic backups are legendary and chronicled by motorists who post on the Facebook Page, “Don’t Wait on 28!” The page recently featured a post of a T-shirt sold at the Millvale Music Festival last weekend exclaiming: “Be Like 28 and never stop working on yourself.”

Swank Construction Company is the lead contractor on the Harmar exit project, which will end by late July, PennDOT said.

The Route 28 roadwork at the Harmar exit is part of a nearly $28 million highway restoration project between the Harmar exit and the Russellton/Creighton Exit 13 interchanges.

During much of construction, long-term single-lane restrictions will occur until the project is finished at the end of 2023 or early 2024.

Work includes milling and resurfacing, concrete pavement preservation, bridge rehabilitation and preservation, guide rail and drainage improvements, highway lighting, traffic signals, curb ramps installation, signing and pavement marking and other improvements, according to PennDOT.