Parkway East Commercial Street Bridge Project Could Finish Early

PITTSBURGH, PA —Days after the old Parkway East Commercial Street Bridge was razed via explosives, its replacement span is being slid into place.

Moving the 22-million pound bridge was moving ahead of schedule, and PennDOT officials said Monday at a news conference that the parkway possibly could reopen ahead of its Aug. 3 target date.

PennDOT began the massive lateral slide project on Sunday at around 10 a.m. The agency said a notification will be provided once the slide is completed.

The new bridge is being slid into place between the eastern side of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and the Edgewood/Swissvale exit of the parkway. The project has resulted in the partial closure of the parkway and lengthy detours for 100,000 motorists daily. ]

The fully constructed new bridge, which was built adjacent to the old one, is moving 102 feet into place. A skidding system is being used to slowly move the bridge to align with the parkway.

Each of the 42 skid shoes installed have the ability to operate independently, with integrated hydraulic jacks used to lift the load from its temporary supports and set it down on the permanent bearings.

The explosive demolition of the old bride occurred at approximately 8 a.m.on July 16. Crews then continued to demolish the remnants of the former bridge and cleared the necessary debris prior to beginning the slide of the new bridge.

The public can view the slide via the live feed camera displaying the Commercial Street Bridge on the Commercial Street Bridge webpage or the specialized 511PA ebpageathttps://www.511pa.com/map/page/CommercialStBridge. The camera will run live through the closure of the bridge.