 | Westbound (inbound) single lane traffic:
• Weeknights (Monday through Thursday nights), 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
• Weekends (Friday and Saturday nights), 9 p.m. to 10 a.m.
Eastbound (outbound) single lane traffic:
• Weeknights (Monday through Thursday nights), 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
• Weekends (Friday and Saturday nights), 11 p.m. to 10 a.m.
The outbound (eastbound) Squirrel Hill Tunnel on the Parkway East (I-376) in the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, will be closed April 19-22 and April 26-29.
The closures will occur from 10 p.m. (note earlier start time) on Friday through 6 a.m. on Monday. Crews will continue to remove the outbound tunnel ceiling and rehabilitation and preservation work on the outbound bridge over Commercial Street. When overall work is completed, vertical clearance in the eastbound tunnel will increase from 13 feet, 6 inches to 14 feet, 9 inches. Additional, multiple improvement activities will occur in the tunnel as well to maximize productivity during the closures.
Signs will be posted to guide motorists. The posted detour will require eastbound traffic to form a single lane exiting at the Squirrel Hill/Homestead interchange (Exit 74). Significant delays should be expected and alternate routes considered. The inbound (westbound) tunnel will remain open while the outbound tunnel is closed, although short-term inbound traffic stoppages may occur for equipment access and material removal.
To minimize impacts on businesses in Squirrel Hill, which will remain open and accessible, different detours are being used during day and night hours (see attached maps). PennDOT has made improvements at key intersections and police will be posted to keep traffic moving on the posted detour.
Daylight detour (6 a.m. to 8 p.m.)
• Exit at Squirrel Hill (Exit 74)
• Make left onto Forward Avenue
• Continue taking slight right and stay on Forward Avenue
• Left onto Beechwood Boulevard
• Right onto Forbes Avenue
• Right onto South Braddock Avenue
• End detour at outbound Parkway East on-ramp
Night detour (8 p.m. to 6 a.m.)
• Exit at Squirrel Hill (Exit 74)
• Make left onto Forward Avenue
• Continue slight left/straight onto Murray Avenue
• Right onto Forbes Avenue
• Right onto South Braddock Avenue
• End detour at outbound Parkway East on-ramp
Motorists are reminded to use all open lanes to the single lane merge point on the Parkway East. Please be courteous to other motorists and allow them to merge. The effectiveness of traffic flow entering the detour route is highly dependent on driver behavior. Zipper! Using all lanes and allowing a consistent, courteous merge will reduce congestion and delay and help traffic move off the Parkway East through the detour. If significant congestion and delay are occurring during the outbound closures, PennDOT suggests the following alternative:
• From eastbound I-376, take the Forbes Avenue (Exit 72A) to Oakland
• Continue on Forbes Avenue through Oakland
• Make left onto South Bellafield Avenue
• Make right onto Fifth Avenue
• Continue east on Fifth Avenue
• Make right onto Penn Avenue (Route 380/8)
• Continue through Wilkinsburg
• Access Parkway East in Forest Hills
The following additional closures are planned through the month of May; however it is important to note this schedule is tentative and subject to change based on work progress and other variables:
• May 10-13, outbound closure
• May 17-20, outbound closure
Additional closures will be announced in the future as progress is evaluated. | |
| A $49.5 million project to rehabilitate the Squirrel Hill Tunnel on the Parkway East (I-376) in the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County.
The rehabilitation project includes updating electrical, lighting, air control and ventilation systems, structural repairs to the walls and arched ceiling, installation of a water line and other improvements.
Rehabilitation Work Scheduled for 2012-2014:
• Repair concrete spalls
• Remove the existing tunnel ceiling to improve vertical clearance (new clearance height for westbound tunnel will be posted at 15’-6”; eastbound tunnel will be posted at 14’-9”)
• Construct new drainage around portal buildings
• Remove and replace de-bonded tunnel wall tiles
• Repair cracks in concrete surfaces
• Re-line the existing water line and provide new equipment for the existing tunnel fire hydrant system
• Repair leaking expansion joints in tunnel
• Upgrade tunnel life safety systems
• Refurbish existing tunnel ventilation
• New tunnel lighting system
• Upgrade existing west-bound tunnel over-height truck detection system
• Provide oil/water separator and hazardous spill containment tank
• Mill and resurface tunnel roadway
To minimize impacts on the traveling public, rehabilitation work on the bridge that carries the Parkway East over Commercial Street will be performed as part of the tunnel project. Expansion dam on ramps at the Edgewood Swissvale interchange (Exit 77) will also be replaced.
Overall work will conclude in summer 2014. The prime contractor is the Walsh Construction Company of Canonsburg. |