Local Brief
Parkway East closes Friday for 25-day bridge project
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It's almost time to slide this thing into place. Photo: Chrissy Suttles/Axios
A notoriously congested stretch of the Parkway East closes for 25 days on Friday as crews demolish and replace the Commercial Street Bridge.
Why it matters: The closure will test drivers' patience, and their brake pads, diverting roughly 100,000 daily motorists off the highway and onto detoured routes that could snarl traffic throughout the city.
The big picture: PennDOT is replacing the 75-year-old Commercial Street Bridge over Nine Mile Run, part of a $95 million project to reinforce one of the region's busiest highways.
- Commercial Street beneath the bridge closed on June 29. It will remain closed throughout construction.
The latest: The Parkway East (I-376) will shut down in both directions between the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and the Edgewood/Swissvale (Exit 77) interchange from 9pm Friday to 5am Aug. 3.
- Parkway traffic between the Wilkinsburg exit (78B) and the Forbes Avenue/Oakland exit (72A) will be closed to all but local traffic.
Detours: Inbound traffic will exit at Wilkinsburg, take Penn Avenue to Fifth Avenue, and re-enter the Parkway at Forbes/Oakland.
- Outbound traffic will use Forbes to Fifth via Bellefield Avenue and Penn Avenue to re-enter.
- See an interactive map of all local and interstate detours here.
- PennDOT also recommends alternate routes to bypass construction altogether.
How it works: The current bridge will be demolished later this month, and its already-built replacement will be slid into place. PennDOT says the technique cuts what would have been a four-year project to just a few weeks of major disruptions.
- The timeline could still slip due to unforeseen delays, but the project's contract offers hefty financial incentives for early completion and penalties for finishing late, per PennDOT.
- An exact date hasn't been set for the current bridge implosion, but there will be an 800-foot safety perimeter established and no viewing area, the Post-Gazette reported, adding that PennDOT will offer a livestream.
Friction point: Residents in nearby neighborhoods such as Regent Square worry detoured traffic will overwhelm already congested local streets, including South Braddock Avenue, and business owners fear delivery delays.
- PennDOT urged the city's largest employers to allow remote work during the project to ease gridlock.
The bottom line: Drivers can use 511PA to monitor traffic conditions and plan their route ahead of time.