Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing eastbound I-376 (Parkway East) overnight High Friction Surface Treatment (HFST) operations in the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County will begin Tuesday, November 8 weather permitting.

Beginning Tuesday evening, crews will conduct HFST operations, requiring lane closures in the eastbound direction on the Parkway East between the Bates Street on-ramp and the Squirrel Hill Tunnel from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly through Friday morning.

HFST is an innovative technique to improve the safety of motorists at high-priority crash locations throughout the commonwealth. Road surfaces become polished in areas where drivers brake often, like going around curves, down steep roads, or at an intersection. This makes vehicles skid more because there is less friction between the tires and the road surface. Wet road surfaces can also reduce pavement friction and cause skidding or hydroplaning.

HFST is added to the top of a road surface, using materials, such as bauxite, to create more friction on pavement. These materials, called aggregates, are high quality and are less likely to wear down than normal pavement. Having greater friction helps to keep vehicles in their lane on slippery pavement around curves and helps the driver to stop.

Crews from the Mekis Construction will conduct the work. 

For more information on HFST, a low cost safety improvement, visit PennDOT's Innovation Council website.

Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.

511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.

MEDIA CONTACT: Yasmeen Manyisha, 412-429-5044

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