Part of I-76W in Philadelphia closed this weekend for bridge deck repairs | What to know

This story originally appeared on 6abc.

Part of the Schuylkill Expressway in Philadelphia will be shut down until Monday morning, affecting tens of thousands of drivers.

PennDOT says it needs to repair a bridge deck on a section of the highway. To do so, the westbound lanes will be closed from the 34th Street off-ramp to the University Avenue on-ramp from 9 p.m. Friday night to 5 a.m. Monday.

Traffic will be detoured through the city.

“It’s going to be a lot of traffic. That’s going to be hectic,” said Rahsul Brown, who said he is changing his weekend plans. “I think that’s real inconvenient. I’m in merchandise so I do a lot of driving.”

PennDOT says its contractors will be repairing a deteriorated concrete deck and resurfacing the road.

“The top is falling apart. It’s been falling apart for some time,” said PennDOT spokesman Brad Rudolph. “The detour is going to take some time because you’re going to be using the Grays Ferry section and the Center City side to get back onto the highway.”

He added that section of the highway sees about 30,000 vehicles every day.

“All the traffic’s gonna be coming down here?” asked Denim Micah in Grays Ferry.

Drivers will be detoured off the highway onto 34th Street, down Grays Ferry Avenue, and through Center City.

PennDOT says drivers need to plan ahead as neighbors brace for the traffic jams.

“That’s going to very difficult, especially for me because I work up on City Line Avenue, so normally a 10-minute ride is gonna take about 30, 45 minutes,” said Ronyan Payton.

PennDOT says it picked this weekend because there aren’t many big events planned and the Phillies are away.

This is also just the first weekend for the work. The next planned one is from 9 p.m. Friday, April 11th to 5 a.m. Monday, April 14.