SR 28 Widening

Brayman was contracted by PennDOT to widen PA State Route 28, section A50, located near downtown Pittsburgh.  Prior to the start of major construction, Brayman demolished numerous buildings located on the hillside lining the inbound side of the highway.

This project is an excellent demonstration of utilizing micropiles for low headroom and limited access situations. In addition, a significant amount of driven/drilled piling was necessary to support construction of Ramp E – the three span bridge; Ramp D – the four span bridge over the Norfolk Southern Railroad; Walls 10A and 10B; and Soldier Pile Wall 18A, as well as the half-mile long elevated structure built over the edge of the riverbank.

The project also involved extensive underground utility relocations, of which the largest and most complicated was the installation and replacement of three separate 36-inch diameter ductile iron combination storm and sanitary pipe tied directly into a 60-inch diameter sanitary inceptor line at the edge of the Allegheny River. All of the work required by-pass pumping and engineered shoring due to the depth of the excavations and high ground water table.

In addition, the work included horizontal boring of 36-inch diameter dedicated storm water pipes under both Norfolk Southern active rail lines and SR 28. All of this work had to be performed without interruption to the existing sanitary, railroad or vehicular traffic traversing the project.