The Parkway East will officially reopen on Monday, July 27, PennDOT officials have confirmed to KDKA-TV.<\/p>\n
The announcement comes as workers successfully replaced the Commercial Street Bridge outside of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel early last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The opening is\u00a0ahead of schedule<\/a>\u00a0after crews demolished the old Commercial Street Bridge<\/a> and began\u00a0sliding the new 22-million-pound<\/a>\u00a0bridge into place. The bridge was fully moved into place on July 20.<\/p>\n A press conference is scheduled for Monday, where officials are expected to share more information. The exact time of the reopening is not yet known.<\/p>\n The closure was initially\u00a0expected to last 25 days<\/a>, with a tentative reopening date of Aug. 3. If contractors got the Parkway reopened before 12:01 a.m. on July 28, they were slated to receive a $2 million bonus.<\/p>\n “We will have completed this project and opened the Parkway in less than three weeks,” Carroll said last week. “I am not a civil engineer, but you don’t have to be one to appreciate what has already been accomplished here,” Carroll said.<\/p>\n The Parkway East has been closed between the Edgewood\/Swissvale and Squirrel Hill interchanges during all this work, including the demolition of the old bridge.<\/p>\n While the closure is in effect,\u00a0traffic is being detoured<\/a>\u00a0via multiple routes, and so far, the\u00a0traffic impacts<\/a>\u00a0have remained minimal. The closure impacts a section of the Parkway that sees about\u00a0100,000 cars a day<\/a>.<\/p>\n As for Commercial Street itself, that is not expected to open early. PennDOT hopes to get that connector cleared up and opened by Aug. 3.<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n