Construction set to begin on a major Pittsburgh bridge on Thursday night. Here's how you can avoid the traffic.

When major work is needed on one of Pittsburgh's many bridges, crews usually hold off until the weekend in order to minimize the traffic impact. 

That is not the case with the weekend work coming to the Homestead Grays Bridge, which will begin on Thursday and will impact the Friday rush hour. 

Simply put, be prepared for a mess in Homestead and Squirrel Hill. 

Which lanes will close on the Homestead Grays Bridge? 

The Homestead Grays Bridge is a critical link to the Parkway East from Homestead, Munhall, West Mifflin, and all points south. It also has about 40,000 drivers a day, and now, they're heading for another squeeze. 

Beginning on Thursday night at 9, the four lanes of the bridge will be down to just two lanes - one in each direction. 

The restrictions are being put into place for deck repairs, which are needed in multiple spots. What will make things more challenging is that the two lanes will change as needed to accomplish the repairs. 

On Thursday night, the first closures will be the middle two lanes of the bridge on the Homestead end of the bridge, and that means drivers will have to use the outside lanes - again, one in each direction. 

Similar work on recent weekends has resulted in extensive delays, and that work was not during the weekday rush, like it will be on Friday. 

Detours to take during work on Homestead Grays Bridge

On Friday morning, once the bridge is officially down to one lane, there are some options for detours. 

First, you can use the Rankin Bridge. That will take you across into Braddock, through Rankin, Swissvale, and then to the Parkway East. 

There is also the option of sticking with 837, which will take you through West Homestead to the Glenwood Bridge. That route, however, does have some construction, with some on the north end of the Glenwood Bridge. That detour takes you through Hazelwood. 

Finally, you can stick with 837 E. Carson Street and take that to the South Side, which avoids the construction.