Regent Square neighbors worried about detoured I-376 bridge traffic: "It's going to be a disaster"

The week is here that the Parkway East will close for 25 days as the Commercial Street Bridge is torn down and replaced. 

There are several detours posted to get drivers around, and some will push traffic through neighborhoods. The closure is a section of the Parkway that sees about 100,000 cars a day, about a third of the population of the city of Pittsburgh.

"I personally think it's going to be a disaster," D's Six Pax and Dogz bartender Eve Appel said.

Daniel Pergi with 61B Café expects "a bit more chaos."

"Probably more people backing into the other cars here. Some parallel parking challenges," Pergi said with a laugh. 

There are already tens of thousands of drivers who use South Braddock Avenue every day. Some people feel that adding in detoured traffic has the potential to cause gridlock in the Regent Square neighborhood. 

PennDOT is asking drivers not to use GPS to find alternative routes that would take them through residential streets.

"Those are neighborhoods you are traveling through, and you're causing congestion for those residents in those communities," John Myler with PennDOT District 11 said over Zoom.

The hope is traffic doesn't scare loyal customers away from the commercial corridor for the planned 25-day closure.

"There's a real camaraderie in the small business community around, like, 'hey this shop could use a little extra so make sure you swing by there,'" Stay Gold Books owner Corey Wittig said.

On the other hand, some businesses look at it as a chance to get new customers.

"Hopefully we get some more people in, we'd love that," Appel said.

"A lot of new customers to see the business as they pass by and go, 'oh, I haven't seen that place yet,'" Pergi said.

The scheduled closure is set to last from Friday starting at 9 p.m. through Aug. 3.