Pennsylvania Installs New Wrong-Way Driver Detection System on Route 28

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is rolling out a new wrong-way driver detection system on major state highway Route 28.

“Route 28 has been a challenging corridor with its high speed,” PennDOT District 11 Traffic Engineer Stephanie Zolnak told the Tribune-Review. “We want to implement this new technology to counteract these trends and save lives.”

The $4.8 million project will include 21 ramps along the expressway, running from Harmar to Pittsburgh. The system requires installing fiber, sensors, detectors, signs, lighting and cameras.

With the new technology, when a vehicle goes the wrong way on a Route 28 ramp, it triggers flashing lights on the wrong-way signs. Arrows will also be painted on roads and surrounded by red lenses.

“Hopefully that will get the cars’ attention and that will give them the ability to make a correction,” Steve Sneddon, PennDOT senior assistant construction engineer, told WPXI.

If not, a camera begins recording and notifies PennDOT’s traffic management center and state police. These departments will alert other motorists of a wrong-way driver on Route 28 via electronic signs.

Crews are working from north to south on the highway to install the wrong-way detection system from Harmarville to Anderson Street. They have already completed the addition to ramps on the Harmarville, RIDC, Blawnox, Fox Chapel and Delafield interchanges.

PennDOT chose Route 28 for the new technology because of its narrow shoulders and the number of crashes on the highway. The highway had 30 wrong-way crashes from 2019 to 2023, according to PennDOT. Some of these incidents resulted in fatalities.

“The department would like to note that the wrong-way detection system and the signage and pavement marking projects on Route 28 do not specifically prevent wrong-way crashes, but will deter and should reduce occurrences,” PennDOT Press Officer Steve Cowan told WPXI.

All wrong-way detection systems on Route 28 will be installed and functional by spring 2026, according to PennDOT.

Sources: WPXI, Tribune-Review, CBS News