A portion of Parkway East will close for 25 days, starting at 9 pm tomorrow. PennDOT has offered a number of suggested detours, one of which takes drivers through Oakland. Is anything being done to ease congestion in Oakland? Drivers familiar with Oakland know the area can become heavily congested, raising questions about efforts to ease traffic flow. PennDOT has highlighted that the closure is scheduled during the summer months, a time when traffic volume is generally lower due to fall classes not being in session. PennDOT has also conducted public outreach, including discussions with UPMC, which is managing significant construction as part of its Presbyterian Tower expansion. Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reached out to UPMC who says there are no plans to stop any of their ongoing construction during the Parkway shutdown. One agency that is making some adjustments is Pittsburgh Regional Transit. PRT’s CEO Katharine Kelleman says they are taking steps to reduce congestion by temporarily halting construction on the university line in Oakland. “We will temporarily suspend our construction on the university line. That means all that fun traffic that we are contributing to in Oakland. We are taking a temporary pause so things can flow a little smoother,” explained Kelleman before adding, “We’d love to get ready faster, but we want to… It’s more important to get ready together.” Will the detours be loaded into local navigation apps? Another common concern has been whether the detours will be integrated into navigation apps like Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze. PennDOT says yes and that a lot of these conversations happened during their extensive outreach leading up to the project. However, some viewers have reported complications with the detours loading. This could likely be because many of the apps are waiting for the official closure to begin, but only time will tell. Do you have questions about the project, the work or the detours? Send us an email at traffictip@wtae.com.FULL BREAKDOWN OF THE DETOURS: Click here

PITTSBURGH —

A portion of Parkway East will close for 25 days, starting at 9 pm tomorrow.

PennDOT has offered a number of suggested detours, one of which takes drivers through Oakland.

Is anything being done to ease congestion in Oakland?

Drivers familiar with Oakland know the area can become heavily congested, raising questions about efforts to ease traffic flow. PennDOT has highlighted that the closure is scheduled during the summer months, a time when traffic volume is generally lower due to fall classes not being in session.

PennDOT has also conducted public outreach, including discussions with UPMC, which is managing significant construction as part of its Presbyterian Tower expansion.

Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reached out to UPMC who says there are no plans to stop any of their ongoing construction during the Parkway shutdown.

One agency that is making some adjustments is Pittsburgh Regional Transit. PRT’s CEO Katharine Kelleman says they are taking steps to reduce congestion by temporarily halting construction on the university line in Oakland.

“We will temporarily suspend our construction on the university line. That means all that fun traffic that we are contributing to in Oakland. We are taking a temporary pause so things can flow a little smoother,” explained Kelleman before adding, “We’d love to get ready faster, but we want to… It’s more important to get ready together.”

Will the detours be loaded into local navigation apps?

Another common concern has been whether the detours will be integrated into navigation apps like Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze. PennDOT says yes and that a lot of these conversations happened during their extensive outreach leading up to the project.

However, some viewers have reported complications with the detours loading. This could likely be because many of the apps are waiting for the official closure to begin, but only time will tell.

Do you have questions about the project, the work or the detours? Send us an email at traffictip@wtae.com.

FULL BREAKDOWN OF THE DETOURS: Click here