Wrong-way detectors to be installed at 20 ramps to Route 28
After multiple wrong-way crashes along Route 28 in recent years, PennDOT is set to install large flashing signs to alert drivers who enter a ramp in the wrong direction.
Detectors will be placed on 20 ramps, with work starting this summer and ending next year. The signs will be installed between Pittsburgh and Harmar, from the Madison Avenue ramp to the Route 910 interchange.
The $4 million project will include cameras, infrared devices, radar and sensors to detect vehicles traveling the wrong way on exit ramps before entering the highway.
“If a driver enters Route 28 in the wrong direction, signs and lights will automatically activate to alert drivers,” PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said.
“Notifications will be sent to PennDOT’s Western Regional Traffic Management Center.”
Harrison police Chief Brian Turack said he isn’t aware of any incidents of drivers in the township using the incorrect ramps, but he welcomes the technology.
“Anything that enhances the safety along (Route) 28 is a benefit,” Turack said.
The move by PennDOT comes after multiple motorists have died or been seriously injured along the highway and other regional roads in wrong-way crashes in recent years.
In June 2022, a woman from Pittsburgh’s Crafton Heights neighborhood was charged with child endangerment after a wrong-way crash on Route 28.
The crash injured eight children and three adults, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.
Fato Muya was accused of driving north in the southbound lanes. She told police she missed her exit about 11:30 p.m. and made a wrong turn while following her GPS, according to court papers.
In February 2021, an SUV involved in a wrong-way crash killed two people after it entered Route 28 from Anderson Street on Pittsburgh’s North Shore and crashed into another vehicle traveling south on the highway near the East Ohio Street exit.
Carlos Burley of Pittsburgh was the driver of the Lincoln that crashed into a Ford SUV. He died in the crash along with a passenger in the Ford.
Tawnya Panizzi is a TribLive reporter. She joined the Trib in 1997. She can be reached at tpanizzi@triblive.com.
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