Parkway East Reopening Time Revealed

PITTSBURGH, PA — The two-week wait or the entire Parkway East to fully reopen is nearly over.

At a news conference on the eastbound side of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel streamed several state websites on Monday, Gov. Josh Shapiro said the eastbound lanes of the parkway will reopen at around 8 p.m. The westbound lanes will reopen a short time later.

Subscribe

"PennDOT engineers and others, and the team here, law enforcement,everybody's got a plan on how to escort that first traffic through, and then it will just flow," Shapiro said.

The parkway closed in both directions between the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and the Edgewood/Swissvale exist on July 10. After initial prep work, PennDOT imploded the old bridge on July 16.

Workers used accelerated bridge construction techniques to move its replacement span, which was built adjacent to the old bridge in Frick Park, into place. The 22-million-pound bridge was moved 96 feet in seven hours on July 19, with the final six feet completed on July 20.

The parkway originally was expected to remain closed until August 3, but around -the-clock work permitted PennDOT to predict last week that the road would reopen early.

Although the bridge is reopening, Commercial Street underneath it will remain closed while workers remove the remaining debris from the old span.