Do not use the photo from After several wrong-way accidents on Route 28 recently, PennDOT plans to put up big flashing signs to warn drivers who go into a ramp in the wrong direction.
Sensors will be placed on 20 ramps, with the project starting this summer and finishing next year. The signs will be set up between Pittsburgh and Harmar, from the Madison Avenue ramp to the Route 910 interchange.
The $4 million plan will involve cameras, infrared devices, radar, and sensors to spot vehicles traveling the wrong way on exit ramps before getting onto the highway.
“If a driver goes onto Route 28 in the wrong direction, signs and lights will turn on automatically to warn drivers,” PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said.
“Alerts will be sent to PennDOT’s Western Regional Traffic Management Center.”
Harrison police Chief Brian Turack said he doesn’t know of any cases of drivers in the township using the wrong ramps, but he welcomes the technology.
“Anything that improves the safety along (Route) 28 is a benefit,” Turack said.
The action by PennDOT comes after multiple drivers have died or been seriously hurt along the highway and other regional roads in wrong-way accidents recently.
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.
