(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of Alexandra Wimley/ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) After the successful lateral slide of the new $95 million Interstate 376 Commercial Street Bridge in Allegheny County, PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll and PennDOT District 11 Executive Jason Zang announced yesterday that I-376 is anticipated to reopen next week, ahead of the original targeted date of August 3rd.

At approximately 10 A.M. on Sunday, the innovative lateral slide operations began.

Crews moved the structure 96 feet in seven hours using Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) techniques.

The remaining six feet of the slide was completed on Monday morning and was one of the largest lateral slide projects ever performed in Pennsylvania.

A skidding system was then used to move the bridge into alignment with the I-376 Parkway East. Each of the 42 skid shoes installed can operate on its own, with integrated hydraulic jacks used to lift the load from its temporary supports and set it down on the permanent bearings.

Before the slide occurred, the explosive demolition occurred at approximately 8 A.M. last Thursday morning.

Crews continued to demolish the remnants of the former bridge and cleared the necessary debris before beginning the slide of the new bridge.

I-376 was closed to traffic on July 10th and the new projected reopening is now ahead of the original date of August 3rd that was anticipated.

The exact opening date will be determined dependent on weather conditions, with Commercial Street and Nine Mile Run Trail expected to reopen soon after.