Three major roadwork projects that start on Monday will affect drivers on Route 65, Route 8 and Route 28 in the northern suburbs.

Route 65, also known as Ohio River Boulevard, will be reduced to one lane in both directions near the Interstate 79 interchange in Glenfield from 7 a.m. Monday until 3 p.m. March 19 on the southbound side and until 7 a.m. March 22 northbound.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Jim Struzzi said crews will prepare Route 65 for longer-term restrictions, including crossovers starting March 22 from Kilbuck to Haysville.

Ramps at the interchange will close at varying times during the $20.8 million project, begun last year, to improve the interchange and its approaches, including 10 bridge and ramp structures, he said. Swank Associated Cos. Inc. of New Kensington is expected to complete the project in October.

Route 8 will be down to one lane in each direction between Duncan Avenue and Harts Run Road in Hampton starting at 7 a.m. Monday through mid-June. Crews will replace a bridge over Gourdhead Run.

The work is part of a $6.4 million contract with Clearwater Construction Inc. of Mercer for improvements to several bridges.

PennDOT previously announced the start of this season's Route 28 construction, which will complete more than 10 years of improvements to the Etna interchange.

The right lanes will close in both directions through the interchange area from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to midnight from Monday through March 20. Crews will install temporary lighting and signs and build a crossover.

Other restrictions will start later this month and continue around the clock through November as part of the $27.2 million project, Mr. Struzzi said.

To avoid a full detour, northbound traffic will be reduced to a single lane and cross over onto the southbound side at the Shaler water treatment plant. It will cross back just before the new bridge over Route 8 at Etna. That will clear the way for reconstruction of the northbound side.

Two lanes of traffic will be maintained on southbound Route 28.

Northbound off-ramps to northbound Route 8 at Exit 5B and Sharpsburg at Exit 5A will be closed. Traffic on northbound Route 28 wishing to enter northbound Route 8, Sharpsburg or the 62nd Street Bridge will be detoured through Etna using Exit 4.

The southbound on-ramp from Butler Street in Etna to southbound Route 28 will be closed. Butler Street will be detoured using Bridge Street to the southbound on-ramp.

The contractor is Mascaro Construction of Manchester.

While this season's work will wrap up the Etna interchange makeover that began in 1999, there's plenty more ahead for Route 28 drivers.

A separate project to widen and improve the highway from just north of the 31st Street Bridge to Millvale also is scheduled to begin this spring and will create a separate work zone with northbound traffic restricted to a single lane. When it is finished in 2012 there will be four standard lanes separated by a median barrier and through traffic will no longer have a stoplight at the 40th Street Bridge.

That construction is expected to stretch into 2012.

Another project that is under way, relocation of railroad tracks to prepare for total reconstruction of the segment from 31st Street inbound to the old Heinz plant, won't have much of an impact on Route 28 traffic but will require a one-month full closure of the 31st Street Bridge while a pier is relocated.

All of the work needed to make Route 28 travel faster and safer over a stretch notorious for congestion and crashes is expected to span at least another four years.

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