Parkway East will be closed between Squirrel Hill Tunnel and Edgewood this weekend

Motorists who normally use the Parkway East will get a brief preview this weekend of what it will be like when the highway is closed for 25 days next summer.

The highway will be closed in both directions from 9 p.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday between the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and the Edgewood-Swissvale interchange while crews demolish and replace an overhead sign. Detours will be posted, and police officers will be on duty at major intersections to help keep traffic moving during the closure.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is recommending that motorists avoid the area completely and use either Route 28 in the Allegheny Valley or Route 837 in the Monongahela Valley to get into Downtown Pittsburgh.

This weekend’s work is part of the $95 million project to replace the Commercial Street Bridge, which is just before the inbound Squirrel Hill Tunnel. The closure also is a sort of dress rehearsal for next summer, when the highway will be completely closed for 25 days in July.

Contractor Fay S&B USA and its subcontractors are building the new bridge in Frick Park adjacent to the existing structure. In July, they will demolish the old bridge and use hydraulic jacks to slowly move the new bridge into place, clean up the rubble from the demolition and reopen the highway for motorists to use the new bridge.

PennDOT spokeswoman Yasmeen Manyisha said the department doesn’t anticipate any more full closures this year.

“We don’t expect any more weekend closures this year,” she said in an email. “However, there is a chance we may have some smaller overnight closures in one direction later this year.” 

The Parkway East closure highlights a busy weekend for road crews. Here’s what else to expect:

• Parkway East – Outbound traffic will be reduced to one lane from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday between Churchill and the Pennsylvania Turnpike for base repairs. Additionally, the Rodi Road ramp to the outbound Parkway East will be closed from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday for milling and paving. Detours will be posted.
• Fifth Avenue – Pittsburgh Regional Transit will have traffic restrictions in several locations in Oakland this weekend and early next week as part of construction for the second phase its $291 million University Line. The intersection at Thackeray Avenue in Oakland will be closed from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday for road reconstruction and line painting. Motorists will be unable to turn right from Thackeray onto Fifth Avenue, and the sidewalk and crosswalk along Fifth will remain closed. The North Bouquet Street intersection will be closed from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Monday for similar work, but sidewalks and crosswalks will remain open, and there will be access to buildings and the parking garage in that area. And from Monday through Friday next week, crews will be painting lines on Forbes Avenue from Craft Avenue to Schenley Drive from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. Rolling traffic restrictions will be lifted as work is completed. Flaggers will be in place during the work to help direct traffic. Contractors opened exclusive bus lanes and shelters for the Downtown Pittsburgh end of the University Line a few weeks ago and shifted work to the Oakland and Uptown neighborhoods, where work is expected to last until 2027. The goal is to provide more reliable, efficient bus service between Pittsburgh’s two main employment hubs.
• Interstate 79 I – The Neville Island Bridge will be reduced to one northbound lane of traffic from 7 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday between the Route 51-Coraopolis-McKees Rocks and the Route 65-Emsworth-Sewickley interchanges. There will be no changes for motorists driving south in that area. Additionally, Grand Avenue will be reduced to one lane in each direction from 7 p.m. Friday through 3 p.m. Saturday around the I-79 interchange with westbound traffic using an eastbound lane during working hours. The $43.9 million project includes bridge preservation work and full-depth pavement for the area known as the “S-Bend” in Robinson, Neville Township and Glenfield.
• Interstate 79 II – The southbound ramp from the highway to the eastbound Parkway West in Collier and Robinson will close from 6 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday for concrete base repairs. Detours will be posted.
• Hulton, Hamil roads – Milling and paving will begin Friday on the Penn Hills roads and take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays through early September resulting in single-lane alternating traffic in these areas: Hulton and Hamil roads between Saltsburg and Indiana roads and Hamil (Route 2126) at Hunter and Hamil (Route 2078).