The Levi Bird Duff Bridge, which carries Center Avenue over the Parkway North/Interstate 279 in Ross Township, will close Monday, March 4 for a $3 million repair project that will take much of the year, according to the Allegheny County Department of Public Works.

The bridge, which spans the highway between Ross and Bellevue, will be closed to vehicles through Nov. 1, although pedestrians will be permitted to use the bridge during that time. A temporary pedestrian walkway will be installed on the bridge deck while workers repair its sidewalk, county officials said. 

Preliminary repairs began earlier this week. After the bridge closes Monday, motorists will be directed over a 6-mile detour from Center Avenue to the intersection of Perry Highway, then over Highland Avenue, Gass Road, Union Avenue, North Starr Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, North Balph Avenue, Bellevue Avenue and Cornell Road.

Traffic coming from Bellevue will use the detour in reverse. For a map of the full detour, click here.

 At some points during the bridge repairs, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation also may require traffic restrictions on the Parkway North below it. The Port Authority of Allegheny County also is amending some bus routes that involve the bridge and is notifying riders of those changes.

The steel girder bridge was built in 1983. The nearly year-long project involves rehabilitating concrete piers, replacing the deck surface with latex concrete, adding new sidewalks, guiderails and protective fencing, and other repairs.