The reopening of the Parkway East amid the replacement of the Commercial Street Bridge is on track for an “early opening,” PennDOT said Monday morning.
Crews began sliding the new, 22 million pound Commercial Street Bridge into place Sunday morning, working throughout the day to get the new structure nearly entirely moved into placed.
PennDOT District 11 Executive Jason Zang said during a press conference Monday that the Parkway could reopen sometime next week.
“We are actually looking at an early opening,” Zang said, noting that the reopening will depend on things like weather conditions.
The Parkway East is tracking to be ready to reopen earlier than expected amid the ongoing replacement of the Commercial Street Bridge.
KDKA Photojournalist Brian Smithmyer
“No promises just yet, but we are tracking a little bit early right now,” Zang added.
The Parkway East has been closed between the Edgewood/Swissvale and Squirrel Hill interchanges so that crews could demolish the bridge, which happened early Thursday morning.
The closure was initially expected to last 25 days with a tentative reopening date of August 3.
While the closure is in effect, traffic is being detoured through multiple routes, and so far, the traffic impacts have remained at a minimum. The closure impacts a section of the Parkway that sees about 100,000 cars a day.