PennDOT working to clear traffic obstacles from Parkway East detour routes for upcoming 25-day closure
PennDOT crews are working to remove traffic obstacles from detour routes for the upcoming 25-day closure of the Parkway East.
The 25-day closure of the Parkway East is just four days away and much of PennDOT's efforts right now are centered on removing construction material and in other cases, on coordinating traffic signals.
The magic word is flow while the Commercial Street Bridge is being replaced.
PennDOT wants traffic to flow on the detours. In some cases, there are challenges that can be adjusted, but in others, not so much.
Exiting the Parkway East at Wilkinsburg on the inbound interstate detour, PennDOT is changing Ardmore Boulevard this week to give traffic coming from Forest Hills its own lane.
"Then the right lane, we're actually going to be giving that to the Parkway traffic," said PennDOT Senior Assistant Construction Manager John Myler.
That will be the case until the inbound detour has to merge into a single lane through Wilkinsburg, which is also the case for the outbound interstate detour.
"That's sort of the pinch point of the interstate detour, where you only have one lane in each direction," Myler said.
All along the interstate detour, there are a lot of traffic signals from Wilkinsburg, through Point Breeze, and along Oakland, both inbound and outbound.
"We have upgraded those signals to time them all properly to work together and we have remote features where we're able to modify those times," Myler said.
Myler said those signals that PennDOT can't remotely control, they can adjust their timing as they see issues.
While they can't do anything about the ongoing hospital construction in Oakland taking out the inbound right lane of Fifth Avenue, PennDOT says they are working with Pittsburgh Regional Transit to reopen Fifth Avenue to three lanes.
Myler said that Pittsburgh Water is going to be clearing out of the area near the Homestead Grays Bridge where they have been working, as that is part of the detour route.
Parking lanes on the detour routes will remain open.
"We're not taking any additional parking away from from any residents," Myler said.
Stop signs on Braddock Avenue traveling through Rankin will also remain in place.
"Those stop signs will remain in place at those intersections, and again we encourage folks to be cautious through that area," Myler said. "There are pedestrians in that neighborhood section."
The bottom line is that PennDOT is trying to remove as many obstacles as possible, but they know it's still going to be challenging.
When it comes to Route 28, which is being used as a detour route from the Pennsylvania Turnpike into the city of Pittsburgh, Myler said there is not much they can do to the road, but they are going to have additional assets ready to quickly remove any vehicles that break down or are involved in crashes.
Westmoreland County detours
If you're coming from Westmoreland County or points south and east, what's the best way to get Downtown, to a Pirates game at PNC Park, or even to Pittsburgh International Airport?
John Myler, PennDOT's senior assistant construction manager, has been asking himself those same questions. As a Westmoreland County resident, he knows many drivers will be looking for the fastest way around the closure.
"The farther out in Westmoreland you are, the easier it may be," said Myler. "So, one of the things to look at, as crazy as it is for some folks, is maybe head down through New Stanton and Route 70. That might be a good route to come up. And you'd be surprised; it's actually only a few minutes longer to take that route, even to the airport. To take 70 to 79 and up to the airport."
Myler says drivers coming in on Route 22 may want to consider taking the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Route 28 to get into Pittsburgh. Another option is Route 30 to PennDOT's signed detour through Wilkinsburg and into Downtown.
And he said that advice also works in reverse for people traveling from Allegheny County to the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe later this month.
"If you are looking at Allegheny County itself, folks that are in the northwest or south of the county, you really have good options to get around this closure," Myler said. "It may seem out of the way, but it is going to save you significantly more time. Folks in the city direct that are trying to get out, they are probably going to be using our local interstate detours, and I would encourage them to use 511PA to get those real-time drive times so they know how early to leave and what impact they may have along those routes."
