The morning after one of Pittsburgh’s primary highways was closed, Charlie Linsenbigler was drawn to take a look for himself.

He took in the view Saturday from the GetGo gas station overlooking the Edgewood/Swissvale interchange on the Parkway East, where crews could be seen working west of the Commercial Street Bridge that will be replaced over the next 25 days.

“I just walked down to see the mess,” said Linsenbigler, who said he lives about a 15-minute walk away on South Braddock Avenue.

While traffic was stacking up on South Braddock on both sides of the highway, Lisenbigler said it looked pretty normal to him.

“Come the first work day, it might be a little crazy,” he said. “I think the three weeks will go by pretty quickly.”

PennDOT closed the Parkway East between the Squirrel Hill tunnel and the Edgewood/Swissvale interchange Friday night. It’s expected to remain closed until Aug. 3, while the Commercial Street Bridge is demolished and its already-built replacement is slid into place.

“I think its kind of exciting. That bridge is going to fall and it’s a miracle the way they’re going to get it back,” said Ann Norman, who, thanks to a well-timed vacation, won’t have to worry about from traveling from the Green Tree area to work in North Versailles. “It’s really great engineering.”

David Turocy, of Mt. Washington, said his work as a contractor takes him everywhere. While he mostly works in the South Hills, on Saturday he was looking at a job in Swissvale before going to Butler.

“I feel bad for the people who take it every day,” he said.

Information on the detour routes, including travel time, is available on 511pa.com.

The Swissvale Farmers Market was going on as it normally does Saturday mornings in the parking lot of CLASS Community Living and Support Services on South Braddock Avenue.

Young Grguras, president of the market’s board, said they moved it there from the Dixon school this season knowing the parkway closure would be happening. Even with the road work, the new location is more accessible.

“We’re closer to the walkable part of Swissvale. We have a lot of people that just walk down from there,” she said. “The traffic line here is giving us more visibility.”

Jake Liefer walked to the market with his daughters Elizabeth, 11, and Lydia, 9, from their home on Greendale Avenue.

“It’s actually been quite nice. In our neighborhood, it’s quieter,” he said. “We were able to walk over and get our fruits and veggies.”

While he said the traffic was busier than a normal Saturday, he said, “Overall, it’s not as bad as I anticipated.”

Shops were open Saturday along South Braddock Avenue, the line between Swissvale and Edgewood. At Fashion Fix Boutique, a consignment shop, employee Starah Coyne said the traffic wasn’t much different from any other Saturday.

“There’s always traffic. There’s always cars,” she said.

Coyne said her drive to work from North Versailles was easy. She’s not expecting the closure, detours and traffic to keep customers away.

“They’ll figure it out,” she said. “They already know how to get here, or they live down the street.”

At Stay Gold Books, Rory Bocan said she’s not worried about it, but hopes it won’t adversely impact the upcoming Great Pittsburgh Book Crawl, which runs from July 18-26.

“I think Pittsburghers, we tend to over prepare,” she said. “I’m just hoping everybody remains safe and there’s not a lot of road rage.”