PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — PennDOT plans to move ahead with a much-delayed weekend closure of the westbound Schuylkill Expressway in Grays Ferry.
Repairs to the bridges carrying westbound I-76 over Grays Ferry Avenue and the Schuylkill River will close the highway between 34th Street and the University Avenue on-ramp from 9 p.m. Friday, July 11 until 5 a.m. Monday, July 14.
Rainy weekend weather has delayed this redecking project several times in recent weeks.
"We've already pushed into July. We wanted to get this done in May but all of the storms just knocked us out," PennDOT Deputy Communications Director Brad Rudolph told KYW Newsradio. "This weekend looked pretty iffy early on, but it's shaping up to be okay and rain looks minimal if that."
It's the second full westbound closure since the end of March, and Rudolph said with any luck it'll be the last.
"Originally we thought we would need three or four, but we think with the production we got from the first time, and hopefully this weekend, that we can come back a third time under just a lane closure," he said.
Rudolph said it's work that needs to be done.
"Those who ride it know that the riding surface is rough. It's not smooth travel," he said. "The structure is safe but the riding condition is pretty poor."
Westbound traffic will be forced off the highway at 34th Street and sent on a two and a half mile detour onto Grays Ferry Avenue, Washington Avenue, 22nd Street, Walnut Street, and Schuylkill Avenue back to I-76 westbound.
The eastbound lanes of I-76 over Grays Ferry Avenue and the Schuylkill River were resurfaced last fall and are not affected by this weekend's closure.