Some Pittsburgh residents say they were blindsided by PennDOT over upcoming Commercial Street closure

Some residents in the Swisshelm Park section of Pittsburgh say they were blindsided by PennDOT over when and how long Commercial Street would be closed.

Commercial Street is scheduled to close on June 29 and remain closed until the new Commercial Street Bridge on the Parkway East is replaced.

A problem with the closure persists, however.

"At our last meeting with PennDOT, they informed us there would be a one-day closure of Commercial Street to do a test slide for when they close the parkway to remove the bridge," said Vicki Yann of the Swisshelm Forward community group.

This major change caught them off guard.

"We expected it to be completely closed July 10; now we're stuck sucking it up for a couple more weeks," Yann said.

Yann says the fact that the road is going to be closed 13 days earlier than expected, and lasts a lot longer, is a pain, and they wish they had a better heads up from PennDOT.

"We need to plan. Everybody needs to plan. We need to start building in time for your commute in the morning and commute in the evening."

PennDOT released a statement to KDKA-TV, saying in part that they did inform residents that projected dates for closures could fluctuate.

"Once the date was set, we ensured the crews put up notification messages on the digital message boards surrounding the project two weeks in advance per the PennDOT standards," the statement read.

Yann, however, says PennDOT could have done a better job at getting the message across.

"We want better communication. This isn't that hard. Just email us, and we'll put it out to the community," Yann said.