Roads and Bridges

Roads and highways in Allegheny County are owned and maintained by a variety of entities including the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Allegheny County, local municipalities, Pittsburgh Regional Transit, and private owners. To find out who maintains a specific road or highway, view the  Who Owns My Road? map.

Visit the Projects and Closures page, which includes links to project overviews, traffic restrictions, detours, maps, updates, and estimated end dates.

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In an emergency, call 9-1-1 immediately. For non-emergencies, call 412-350-INFO (4636) on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. You also can report issues online by visiting the Allegheny County Support Center.

Call 9-1-1 and/or the utility company immediately.

Submit a claim to the county by calling 412-350-3754. Note that you might be referred to a county construction contractor to submit a claim. The county is generally not liable for vehicle or mailbox damage caused by plowing or salt placement during winter storms.

As soon as possible, wash the vehicle at a pressure car wash. If the wash does not remove the paint, spray the paint residue with WD-40. Allow the WD-40 to stay on the area for 1-2 hours and then rewash the vehicle. For heavy accumulations or paint that has dried for several days, apply a liberal coating of petroleum jelly to the dried paint, allow it to stay on overnight, and rewash the vehicle. Do not scrub the finish with a solvent or scouring cleanser. After cleaning the paint off your vehicle, apply a car wax to the finish.

If a stop sign is missing or has been knocked down, please call 9-1-1 immediately. For all other sign-related issues, call 412-350-INFO (4636) on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. You also can report issues online by visiting the Allegheny County Support Center.

Contact the local school district. School districts are responsible for determining the location of school bus stops as well as installing and maintaining any associated signs.

Contact the local municipality or school district. Either of those entities would need to send a request to PennDOT to have the agency conduct a professional traffic study. If PennDOT approves a school zone following a study, the local municipality must pass an ordinance in compliance with the permit issued by PennDOT to make the new school zone enforceable. Once that is done, either the local municipality or school district must apply for a permit from Public Works prior to installing school zone-related signs along the county-owned road. The permittee would be responsible for purchasing, installing, and maintaining those signs.

Contact the local municipality. The installation and maintenance of handicapped parking signs is the responsibility of municipalities.

Due to state policy, Public Works no longer installs new convex mirrors. Existing mirrors may remain in place until they need to be replaced, at which point they must be removed.

Contact the local municipality. With a few exceptions — notably on county-owned bridges — Allegheny County does not maintain sidewalks and curbs. Maintenance of those is the responsibility of the local municipality. Municipalities often pass on that responsibility to the adjacent property owner via an ordinance.

Contact the local municipality. Public Works rarely constructs new sidewalks along county-maintained roads. Typically, a municipality will request permission from the county via a permit application to install a new sidewalk within county right-of-way. If approved, the municipality is responsible for constructing it.

Contact the local municipality unless the street light is located on a bridge or ramp. In most cases, municipalities are responsible for maintenance of street lights, even along roads owned by the state and county.

For street light issues on a county-owned bridge or ramp, call 800-581-9145 or 412-350-4636 between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays. You also can report the issue online by visiting the Allegheny County Support Center or downloading the Allegheny County mobile app at the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Contact the local municipality. Maintenance of traffic signals is almost always the responsibility of the local municipality.

Speed humps are a type of traffic-calming device, which are physical measures taken to reduce speeding and improve conditions for cyclists and pedestrians. Speed humps, roundabouts, rumble strips, raised medians, and curb extensions are the most common traffic-calming devices. They are primarily installed on low traffic-volume residential roads, in parks, and in small commercial centers. Traffic-calming devices should not be confused with traffic-control devices, such as signs, signals, and pavement markings, which are intended to guide and regulate drivers’ actions.

Because traffic-calming devices can make emergency response and snow removal more difficult as well as create controversy within a community, their installation is usually the last step taken after all the other measures have failed to produce the desired result. Also, certain criteria based on PennDOT guidelines must be met before installation of a traffic-calming device is allowed.

If you believe a traffic-calming device is warranted on a county-owned road, call 412-350-INFO (4636) on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. You also can make a request online by visiting the Allegheny County Support Center.

Contact the local municipality. It would be responsible for conducting a professional traffic study to determine if an engine brake restriction is warranted and then submitting the study results to PennDOT. If PennDOT approves the restriction, the local municipality would then need to enact an ordinance making the restriction enforceable and would be responsible for purchasing, installing, and maintaining any related signage.

Public Works generally does not implement vehicle weight limits unless a county-owned road travels over a poor-rated bridge or culvert. In most cases, the pavement on county-owned roads is thick enough to handle all legal vehicle loads.

To request a vehicle length limit, call 412-350-INFO (4636) on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. You also can make your request online by visiting the Allegheny County Support Center.

Public Works is responsible only when a stream or creek crosses within county right-of-way. In most cases, property owners are responsible for stream and creek maintenance on their properties. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) assists property owners, municipalities, and others affected by the flooding of streams and creeks. Visit the DEP stream maintenance page or contact the DEP Southwest Regional Office for more information.

Please note that it might be necessary for Public Works personnel and contractors to enter onto private property to carry out emergency stream or creek repairs to ensure public safety on a county-owned road or bridge. In those cases, Public Works contacts the property owner to request authorization to enter their property.

Public Works does not maintain or repair pipes under private driveways or under the entrance to private driveways, even if the driveway intersects with a county-owned road. The property owner is responsible for clearing and repairing the driveway pipe, and that work might require permits from Allegheny County and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Please note that it might be necessary for Public Works personnel and contractors to enter onto private property to carry out emergency stormwater pipe work to ensure public safety on a county-owned road or bridge. In those cases, Public Works contacts the property owner to request authorization to enter their property.

Public Works continually inspects roads to rate their condition and determine when work is needed. Public Works annually receives hundreds of service requests from residents, which further helps identify problem areas. Based on that information, Public Works picks a group of roads each year to be repaved.

County right-of-way is an easement or land purchased by the county on which a road is built. It includes the shoulder or berm and any additional area needed for road purposes, such as signs. County right-of-way measurements vary depending on the location.

To find out the measurements for a specific location, call 412-350-INFO (4636) on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. You make a request online by visiting the Allegheny County Support Center.

A Highway Occupancy Permit (HOP) is required before any individual, utility company, municipality, authority, corporation, or organization performs any construction, temporarily occupies, or restricts traffic within, under, or over an Allegheny County right-of-way. Examples of when a HOP is needed include utility work, driveway connections, special events, and film shoots. For more information, call 412-350-5874.

An Overload/Oversize Permit is required before driving a vehicle that is more than 8 feet, 6 inches wide; 13 feet, 6 inches high; 75 feet long; or 80,000 pounds on a county-maintained road. For more information, call 412-350-2517.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Allegheny County, local municipalities, and private owners are responsible for snow and ice removal depending on the road or highway. Please note that the entity responsible for maintaining a road or highway might not be the same entity responsible for removing snow and ice from it. To find out who is responsible for removal of snow and ice from a specific road or highway, view the Who Plows My Road? map.

Public Works constantly monitors the weather using an advanced, industry-leading weather application that provides location-specific conditions and forecasts. When upcoming storms are forecasted, the department prepares days in advance. Salt is preloaded on its trucks, and if two or more inches of snow are predicted, plows are installed.

The Public Works salt truck fleet uses about 18,000 tons of salt and 2,000 gallons of liquid calcium chloride annually. The trucks are installed with devices that help supervisors monitor for mechanical issues in real time and ensure that snow routes are completed in a timely and efficient manner. The department’s experienced salt truck drivers are split into shifts to ensure that there are always enough of them available to provide around-the-clock coverage until precipitation stops and county roadways are clear. If needed, they are kept over the end of their shifts and additional drivers are brought in.

Public Works salt truck drivers follow predetermined routes that are designed based on efficiency, so that county-maintained roads and bridges are treated as quickly and effectively as possible. They might alter those routes due to conditions, reports received about problem areas, or traffic buildups.

It takes them about one to two hours. Additionally it takes about an hour to return to the nearest maintenance garage, reload with salt, and restart routes. As traffic and/or precipitation increases, so does the time it takes for the drivers to complete their routes. If you’re stuck in traffic, so are the salt truck drivers. Therefore, if there is heavy traffic and/or snow is falling quickly, there likely will be accumulation on county-maintained roads and bridges.

Clean the snow and ice from your windows and mirrors before traveling. Make sure all of your lights are working, and always use your headlights during a storm. Check your tire pressure, tire thread, fluid levels, lights, defrosters, and wiper blades. You also should consider keeping an emergency kit in their vehicle that includes non-perishable food, water, medication, first-aid supplies, warm clothes, blankets, a cell phone charger, and snow shovel.

Public Works encourages drivers to slow down, avoid making any sudden moves or fast turns, avoid quick acceleration or hard braking, and leave extra space between your vehicle and the one in front of you.

The normal safe following distance between two vehicles (the two-second rule) should be doubled during winter storms. When behind a salt truck, following too closely increases your chances of loose material flying up and damaging your vehicle. Also, for safety reasons, do not attempt to pass a salt truck.

Landslides are movement of soil, rock, or debris down a hill. They are mostly caused by water, erosion, or human activity, and they’re common in this region because of our hilly terrain and weather. Unfortunately, landslides can close roads, bring down utility poles and wires, and damage homes and properties. To learn more about landslide causes, types, and effects, visit the Allegheny County Landslide Portal.

Public Works is constantly inspecting county-owned roads for signs of trouble. That includes watching for leaning guide rail or utility poles, pavement cracking or sinking, exposed tree roots, and retaining wall deterioration. Some of the preventative steps taken include diverting water away from problematic hillsides by using trenches, curbs, or sandbags. Crews also install drainage ditches or piping to allow trapped water to drain out of heavy, wet soil as well as continually cleaning and repairing the county’s more than 10,000 inlets, catch basins, and outfalls.

Public Works first focuses on keeping the road open or reopening it as quickly as possible by cleaning up the fallen soil, rock, and debris and ensuring that the nearby hillside won’t keep falling. Sometimes, to ensure driver safety, Public Works must keep a road closed until the nearby hillside can be stabilized. That work might include installation of a rock embankment, placement of rock-filled baskets (gabions), or construction of a retaining wall.

Due to the frequency of landslides and retaining wall issues in the county, deciding which problematic locations to stabilize first can be difficult. Public Works primarily considers the issue’s impact on traffic, emergency services, schools, homes, and businesses.

Visit the Adopt-a-Roadway page and click on “Apply for Roadway Adoption.”

Bridges in Allegheny County are owned and maintained by a variety of entities, including the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Allegheny County, local municipalities, and various railroad companies. To find out who maintains a specific bridge, view the Who Owns My Infrastructure? map.

Visit the Project and Closures page, which contains links to project overviews, traffic restrictions, detours, maps, updates, and estimated end dates.

Sign up to receive press releases. Choose either “PR Communications - All Press Releases” or “PR Communications - Public Works/Transportation Releases Only.”

Sign up for Allegheny Alerts. Choose “Public Works” to get notifications sent to you via phone call, text, or email

Follow Allegheny County on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), and watch for notifications on Nextdoor.

If it is an emergency, call 9-1-1 immediately. For non-emergencies, call 412-350-INFO (4636) on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. You also can report issues online by visiting the Allegheny County Support Center.

At least once every two years, Allegheny County is federally mandated to inspect bridges that are 20 feet or longer. County-owned bridges shorter than 20 feet are inspected at least once every two to five years, depending on their condition. Regardless of length, bridges rated "poor" are inspected more frequently if needed.

Between official inspections, Public Works maintenance crews monitor the condition of bridges that carry county-owned roads, and if they see an issue, they immediately report it to the engineers in the Bridge Division.

When a construction project is being designed for a county-owned bridge, in-house and consultant engineers make multiple onsite visits to evaluate the bridge and site. If an issue arises between inspection reports, it is likely identified during an onsite visit.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) hires a licensed consultant on the county’s behalf to inspect all bridges that are 20 feet or longer. For county-owned bridges shorter than 20 feet, the county independently hires multiple licensed consultants to perform inspections.

With an extensive training and certification program, Pennsylvania meets and exceeds National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) for bridge safety inspectors. To become a certified inspector in Pennsylvania, an engineer must complete PennDOT's Bridge Safety Inspector Training and Certification program. To maintain a Pennsylvania inspection certification, inspectors are required to attend a refresher training course every two years.

Certified bridge safety inspectors evaluate an entire bridge to verify its condition as compared to the condition of the bridge when it was first built and in subsequent inspection reports. Each bridge component is inspected primarily for deterioration due to weather, chemicals (such as road salt), and traffic impacts. The inspectors’ assessment includes looking for rust/corrosion of steel, cracks in steel and concrete, missing/broken off sections of concrete, flow of water around bridge supports, and streambed erosion. While every component of a bridge is inspected, emphasis is placed on the primary structural elements that support traffic and the weight of the bridge itself.

At bridges that cross waterways too deep for inspectors to use wading techniques, divers inspect abutments and piers below the waterline for structural deterioration, streambed scour, or undermining at the foundations.

Based on the location and severity of the issues found, inspectors might perform a load-rating analysis and compare those results to previous studies to determine if the bridge’s load (or weight) capacity has changed.

After inspecting a bridge, the inspectors produce a thorough report — often hundreds of pages long for larger bridges. Reports include methods and procedures used for the inspection, a condition rating for each bridge component (deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert), detailed findings (including photos), and a prioritized list of recommended repairs or replacement work.

During a bridge inspection, certified safety inspectors assign a condition rating to each primary bridge component — the deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert. The rating number is on a 0 to 9 scale based on National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) established by the Federal Highway Administration.

0 – Failed. Bridge is out of service and beyond corrective action.

1 – Imminent failure. Major deterioration in critical structural components. Bridge is closed, but corrective action may put the bridge back into light service.

2 – Critical. Deterioration of primary structural components has advanced, and the bridge will be closely monitored or closed until corrective action can be taken.

3 – Serious. Deterioration has seriously affected the primary structural components.

4 – Poor. Deterioration of primary structural elements has advanced.

5 – Fair. Primary structural elements are sound but showing minor cracks and signs of deterioration.

6 – Satisfactory. Structural elements showing minor deterioration.

7 – Good. Some minor problems noted.

8 – Very good.

9 – Excellent.

The overall condition of a bridge is determined by the lowest condition rating of its primary components. If the lowest rating is seven–nine, the bridge is in “good” condition. Bridges rated five–six are in “fair” condition. Bridges rated zero–four have at least one structural component with advanced deterioration, and are classified in “poor” condition.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) provides an interactive statewide map that details the overall condition — good, fair, or poor — of bridges 8 feet or longer that are located within the Commonwealth.

Bridges rated as being in poor condition are not necessarily unsafe. Condition ratings are a broad tool used to help plan improvements, repairs, and replacements. Similar to evaluating a person's overall health, a bridge's condition is complex and cannot be fully described using just three condition ratings. The overall health and safety of a bridge depends on many factors, including its type and construction materials, age, traffic volumes, load-carrying capacity, as well as the location and severity of its deterioration.

The safety of the traveling public is Public Works’ top priority, and the department’s Bridge Division always errs on the side of caution. If its bridge engineers believe there is any chance a county-owned bridge might be unsafe, they will take immediate action.

The bridge safety inspectors who evaluate county-owned bridges produce detailed reports that document any deterioration or damage that might reduce a bridge’s capacity to handle the maximum legal vehicle load (or weight), which is 36 tons for single-unit vehicles and 40 tons for combo vehicles. A single-unit vehicle is typically a car, pickup truck, motorhome, ambulance, or school bus. Examples of combination vehicles are tractor trailers or vehicles pulling a boat or trailer.

Based on the location and severity of the issues found, inspectors might perform a load-rating analysis and compare those results to previous studies to determine if the bridge’s load capacity has changed. Bridge Division engineers then review that analysis to determine what vehicle loads county-owned bridges can safely support on a regular basis.

Public Works is judicious when deciding whether to implement a weight limit, as the department does not want to unnecessarily restrict commercial traffic critical to the region’s economy. However, protecting drivers and county-owned bridges is the department’s top priority, and it always errs on the side of caution. If its bridge engineers believe a weight limit is needed to maintain safety, prevent further damage to a bridge, or extend a bridge’s service life, they will implement one immediately.

Local law enforcement upholds bridge weight limits. Drivers found not following a restriction could be fined and held responsible for any damage done to the bridge.

No. The limit is implemented to maintain safety, prevent further damage to a bridge, and extend the life of a bridge.

The safety of the traveling public is Public Works’ top priority, and the department’s Bridge Division always errs on the side of caution. If its bridge engineers believe there is any chance a county-owned bridge might be unsafe, they will take immediate action.

Public Works will always close bridges that have a zero or one rating and those with a load (or weight) capacity of less than three tons.

Public Works would likely close a bridge that has a two rating and might close a bridge that has a three or four rating. Deciding whether to close a bridge with a two–four rating depends on many factors, including its type and construction materials, age, traffic volumes, load-carrying capacity, as well as the location and severity of its deterioration.

The safety of the traveling public is Public Works’ top priority, and the department’s Bridge Division always errs on the side of caution. If bridge engineers believe there is any chance a county-owned bridge might be unsafe, they will take immediate action.

Public Works Bridge Division engineers use inspection reports produced by licensed consultants with certified inspectors to plan major bridge projects five to 15 years in advance, depending on the complexity of the project. The project could be a preservation, which is intended to keep a bridge in good condition and extend its useful life by taking actions to prevent, delay, or reduce deterioration. Or it could be a rehabilitation project that restores the bridge’s components, addresses ongoing issues, and improves structural integrity. A full bridge replacement is an option when repairs are too costly or the bridge has exceeded its useful life.

In between major bridge projects, county-owned bridges are regularly and proactively maintained by in-house crews as well as on-call bridge inspection and construction consultants. Public Works annually bids a bridge repair contract for needed non-emergency work. If a bridge issue needs immediate attention, Public Works is always prepared to respond quickly.

Public Works uses a number of criteria to prioritize its bridge projects. They include a bridge’s condition, average daily traffic, amount of truck traffic, length of a detour if the bridge needs to be closed, whether it is used for a transit or school bus route, and its proximity to fire stations, schools, and hospitals. The department also considers the estimated remaining life of a bridge if a project is not done, as well as available funding.