PennDOT unveils when the Parkway East will close this summer for the Commercial Street Bridge replacement

PennDOT has unveiled when part of the Parkway East will close this coming summer so that the new Commercial Street Bridge can be installed. 

Part of Parkway East near the Squirrel Hill Tunnel will close around the clock from July 10 to August 3 for the installation of the new bridge as part of a project that's been underway for nearly two years.

The closure of the Parkway East will be monumentally disruptive to the extent that PennDOT is suggesting that planning a vacation might be a good idea.

After months of steel beam delivered, the new Commercial Street Bridge project has reached a milestone.

"All the new steel for the structure is in place and now crews are preparing to start performing the deck work for the bridge," said John Myler, Senior Assistant Construction Engineer for PennDOT. 

Looking at the massive, arching green steel, it's almost hard to believe that the entire structure will be slid into place to align with the driving lanes of Interstate 376.

"The bridge weighs over 22 million pounds," Myler said.

When the Parkway East closes on July 10, it will be shut down around the clock until August 3.

PennDOT says the project is expected to be concluded by the summer of 2027.

Myler said that with the interstate being such a heavily traveled highway, it's important to PennDOT to try and limit the impact to the public as much as possible.

With that in mind, Myler said the contractor working on the project will be on the clock.

"There's an hour-by-hour incentive for the contractor to get done as early as possible," Myler said.

There will conversely be penalties if the contractor misses the deadline.

"We're talking millions of dollars," Myler said.

In the near future, drivers on the Parkway East will see a lane shift right outside the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.

"Where you've often seen those landscape planters in place, that barrier gets reconstructed here this spring," Myler said.

Myler said that PennDOT is hopping the barrier work will get completed before the NFL Draft comes to Pittsburgh in late April, but it's unclear whether it will get wrapped up in time.

As for the month-long closure of the Parkway East, PennDOT is encouraging drivers to plan ahead, take vacation, work from home, use public transit, or carpool.