Pittsburgh puts 5 speed tables on Southern Avenue on Mount Washington

Traffic calming is coming to Southern Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood after a traffic study showed 75% of drivers exceeded the speed limit.

Crews began installing five speed tables Thursday between Wyoming Street and Boggs Avenue to slow drivers. The speed tables, which should be finished on Friday, raise the level of the street several inches in selected areas to encourage drivers to slow.

The construction will include pavement markings and street signs warning drivers about the speed tables.

Residents in the neighborhood asked for the traffic study after they noticed speeding on the street, which has average daily traffic of 1,817. The study in October 2022 found 75% of drivers moving above the speed limit of 25 miles an hour with the highest speed 72 miles an hour.

Crews will work from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. One lane of traffic will remain open, and flaggers will help move alternating traffic through the area, but intermittent delays could occur.

This is the latest effort in the city’s Vision Zero program that is trying to eliminate fatal crashes.

Other changes in traffic projects this weekend include:

• Mayview Road – Crews have finished rehabilitating the bridge over Chartiers Creek in Upper St. Clair a week earlier than expected. Construction that began Sept. 15 had closed the road between Hastings Crescent and the Boyce Mayview Park Community and Recreational Center, but the bridge reopened Thursday. Crews replaced expansion dams, repaired the concrete deck and barrier, and sealed the bridge in a $2.1 million project.
• Route 51 – The length of the work zone in Pleasant Hills will be reduced substantially over the weekend. Crews will work from 8 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Sunday to reduce the work zone to about 300 feet in each direction at Lewis Run Road. That configuration will last through late October. The work is part of a $19.8 million project to improve the highway in both directions between Stewart Avenue in Pittsburgh and Peters Creek Road in Pleasant Hills.
• Interstate 79 – Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction from 7 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday on the Neville Island Bridge in Glenfield, Robinson and Neville. Crews will patch the concrete surface during the restriction as part of the $43.9 million to improve the highway through the “S” bend in the three communities.
• Armstrong Tunnel – The tunnel and the Philip Murray Bridge to Pittsburgh’s South Side will be closed from 7 to 11 a.m. Sunday for the Pittsburgh Penguins 6.6K Run and Family Walk.
• McArdle Roadway – The entry from Pittsburgh’s South Side and the Liberty Bridge to Mount Washington will be closed from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday so crews can clear brush along the sidewalk. The closure will be between Ninth Street and Arlington Avenue. Part of Becks Run Road also will have intermittent closures controlled by flaggers.