Seeing red: Crews begin painting exclusive bus lanes in Downtown Pittsburgh

More red paint will begin showing up on Downtown Pittsburgh streets beginning Monday to designate exclusive bus lanes for Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s University Line.

Formally marking the lanes for use by buses only is one of the last steps before buses start using the special corridor through the Golden Triangle on June 22. Crews also are finishing work on five Downtown stations for the Bus Rapid Transit project that is designed to provide more efficient, reliable service between Downtown and Oakland by preventing buses from bunching together and getting held up by rush-hour traffic.

That will finish the first phase of the $291 million project and allow buses to start using that corridor. Construction on the second phase, which will set up an exclusive inbound lane on Fifth Avenue and an outbound lane on Forbes Avenue through the Uptown neighborhood, started earlier this year and should be finished in 2027.

Amy Silbermann, PRT’s chief development officer, told the Planning & Stakeholder Relations Committee last week that all work for the first phase will be finished in early summer. Bus routes 61A, B and C and 71B, which carry about 17,000 passengers a day, make up the University Line, but eventually about 40% of the agency’s bus routes will use those exclusive lanes.

Lane painting will be done in five phases over the next two weeks that will result in detours for regular bus service beginning at 7 a.m. All work is dependent on the weather and could be changed.

Here are the details:

• Phase 1: Painting will begin at 8 p.m. Monday on outbound Liberty Avenue at Liberty and Fifth Avenue, move toward Sixth Avenue and finish by 6 a.m. Tuesday. General traffic will be maintained on Liberty, but Sixth Avenue will be closed between Liberty and Wood Street. Pedestrian access will be maintained on both sides of Liberty, but buses will not stop at Liberty and Sixth (K&L Gates building) or Sixth and Smithfield Street (Trinity Cathedral).
• Phase 2: Painting will begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday on Sixth Avenue outbound between Grant Street and Centre Avenue and continue until 8 p.m. Wednesday. There will be no bus service changes, pedestrians can use both sides of Sixth Avenue, and two-way traffic will be maintained, but the outbound lane at Mellon Green will be closed.
• Phase 3: Work on Sixth Avenue between Wood and Grant streets will begin at 7 a.m. Wednesday and be done by the end of the week. Outbound Sixth Avenue will be for buses only between Liberty and Grant, and inbound Sixth will only be open between Grant and Wood streets. Pedestrians can use sidewalks opposite the work zone and buses will not stop at Sixth and Smithfield (Trinity Cathedral).
• Phase 4: Detours begin at 7 a.m. May 27 on inbound Fifth Avenue between Grant Street and Liberty Avenue, and painting will begin at 8 p.m. and will finish the next day. During the work, inbound Fifth will be a bus-only lane between Grant and Market Street, but outbound traffic remains the same. Buses and other vehicles will share a single lane on Fifth between Market and Liberty. Pedestrians can use sidewalks opposite the work area, and buses will not stop at Fifth and William Penn Place, Fifth and Smithfield, Fifth and Wood and Fifth opposite McMasters Way.
• Phase 5: Detours begin at 7 a.m. May 28 on inbound Fifth Avenue between Sixth Avenue and Grant Street, and painting will begin at 8 p.m. and finish by the end of the week. Inbound Fifth will be a bus lane between Grant and Market, but all traffic can use the area between Market and Liberty. Outbound Fifth will have general traffic. Pedestrians can use both sides of Fifth Avenue, but buses will not stop at Fifth and Smithfield, Fifth and Wood, Fifth at William Penn Place and Fifth opposite McMasters Way.