Parkway East and Parkway North seeing heavier traffic patterns lately, PennDOT says

If it seems like traffic is heavier than normal on Pittsburgh's parkways, PennDOT says that is indeed the case. 

There's no question that traffic volumes are up, but it's not a sudden population boom. 

"Traffic volumes always do seem to pick up in the September-October timeframe, due to a lot of different factors," said Stephanie Zolnak, PennDOT District 11 traffic engineer.

With schools back in session and vacation time over, Zolnak says despite businesses bringing people back to offices full-time, we still aren't quite back to pre-pandemic levels.

What we are seeing is a shift in when people are working, and traffic on the Parkways is not all the same. 

On the Parkway North, the peak hour is happening a bit earlier than other corridors, around the 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. hours.

For the commute home in the evening, the peak hours are in the 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. window. 

On the Parkway East, the morning peak hour tends to happen a little later than on the Parkway North.

"It's at 8 to 9 a.m., so that that time frame is really starting to spread out into your later morning," Zolnak said.

The Parkway East's afternoon peak hour is around 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., with anecdotal observations putting the same timeframe on the Parkway West.

When it comes to sharing the asphalt on the Parkway East, Zolnak said it is currently running at capacity.

"As we narrow lanes, as we restrict shoulders, it really does start to influence the time that it takes you to drive into the city into the east," Zolnak said.

Zolnak said the Parkway North isn't much better.

"At the Parkway North, it always has tended to be at capacity, which is why the HOV lanes are so important," Zolnak said.

With highways at capacity, Zolnak said the electronic message boards that help warn drivers of problems ahead are key, because people get information in real time. 

While Zolnak said that the wider Commercial Street Bridge has helped when there is a breakdown or crash, the Squirrel Hill Tunnels still cause slowing down, which leads to backups.

PennDOT wasn't able to provide specific data about the Parkway West, but Zolnak said that with highways at capacity, even 100 additional drivers can have a significant impact on slowing traffic.