It's the readers' turn to sound off again, starting with Bob Washburn of Plum, who was surprised to see the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recently replacing concrete on a Murrysville stretch of Route 22 rebuilt only a few years ago.

"Can anyone explain this?" he asked.

Mr. Washburn is talking about 2.8 miles widened and reconstructed in 2004-05 at a cost of $29.9 million.

Without explaining why the concrete failed prematurely in the first place, PennDOT District 12 spokeswoman Valerie Petersen said engineers discovered "some corner cracks in the standard joint details and decided to repair them before they widened."

The work cost $90,000 and was made part of a $846,000 contract to repair and patch a section of Route 22 rebuilt in the early 1990s between Delmont and New Alexandria.

"It's standard operating procedure to patch roads within a time frame of 10 to 15 years because it helps to ensure an expected 30 to 40 year lifespan of concrete pavement," Ms. Petersen explained. "The fabulous news is after more than six years of construction on Route 22, the section between the Allegheny County line and New Alexandria should be a 'work-free zone' for years to come, aside from routine maintenance."

Let's hope so.

PennDOT is on schedule to finish widening the last three-lane "death stretches" and upgrading other parts of Route 22 east of New Alexandria and around Blairsville and Clyde in Indiana County about two years from now.

Political promises and planning for the improvements date back 50 years.

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Alice Ogorodny of the South Hills is amazed that public officials leave it up to drivers to guess if some roads accommodate one lane or two lanes of traffic in each direction.

She offers Brookline Boulevard, Second Avenue and West Liberty Avenue as three examples of neglect, poor traffic engineering and dangerous conditions.

"Why are some lanes used as two lanes where there are no dividing lines?" Ms. Ogorodny asked. "I'm a local and I have trouble figuring it out.

"I can't imagine how hard it must be for out-of-towners."

"Getting Around" has previously brought up the absence of lane designations posing safety as well as a possible liability issues, especially on the speedway known as Second Avenue between Downtown and Hazelwood. Not surprisingly, public officials continue to turn their backs.

"And who's responsible for maintaining the Armstrong Tunnels?" Ms. Ogorodny continued. "They could use new lane markings, paint and reflectors."

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Debbie Benkovitz feels she's being punished for moving to the Allegheny River oasis known as Washington's Landing to take advantage of its proximity to water, bike trails and city amenities.

She spends almost a half-hour commuting to and from her Oakland workplace, largely because of the lousy timing of signal lights in much of Pittsburgh, especially those where River Road, Route 28, Rialto Street and the 31st Street Bridge meet.

"I can see my home from the bridge but can't get there," e-mailed Ms. Benkovitz, who endured its recent closing for reconstruction. "I waste time and gas. I turn off my engine. Traffic inches forward a bit, people honk and you know how that goes. So I restart the engine and inch forward, too. What's next?"

The phased widening and reconstruction of Route 28 is what's next between the North Side and Millvale, including converting the convoluted, congested 31st Street Bridge intersection into a grade-separated interchange designed to improve travel times for everyone in the corridor.

Like Route 22 through Westmoreland County, Route 28 has been on the drawing boards forever. While PennDOT says plans are finally ready and phased construction may start next year, don't bet on it. PennDOT funding is fast becoming a growing problem.

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Since PennDOT will open the second "missing ramp" at the Parkway West/I-79 interchange by Dec. 9 and other improvements have been made in the corridor, David Love of Mt. Lebanon wondered when "Future I-376" will fulfill federal standards and become the real thing, "I-376."

Soon.

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Kevin Smith of Bethel Park questioned why PennDOT is using asphalt for Parkway East rehabilitation when it used concrete in the 1980s. "It was a huge mess and took a long time, but look how long the material lasted," he said.

"Superpave" was not developed until the 1990s.

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As a resident of the South Hills for most of his 67 years, Lee Weber recalled improvements PennDOT began planning in the '50s for the bottleneck at Routes 51-88 in Overbrook. "Not only is the intersection grossly inadequate, it is in absolutely horrible condition."

It's still on the books for the '50s -- 2052-53, I believe.

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For 10 years, Richard McHale has been driving I-79 and Route 60 from the North Hills to the RIDC Parkway West in Robinson, where he's employed at Dick's Sporting Goods. Since PennDOT opened the first "missing ramp" from I-79 south to the Parkway West outbound last week, his commute has been at least five minutes faster.

"Thank you, PennDOT, for the best Christmas present in years," he wrote. "I can't wait for the ramp to I-79 north to open and see how that improves my commute."