Enjoy the holiday weekend, because Terrible Tuesday follows Labor Day, the traditional end of the summer vacation season.
The lull is over. People are back to work. Youngsters are back to school. Football season is here. Stores are stocking shelves for Christmas.
What makes this Tuesday and days to follow so terrible will be, like the name of this column, getting around. It will be slower. It will seem as if the drought and heat shrunk our transportation infrastructure over summer.
No exact figures are available, but traffic volumes typically grow about 10 percent over June-July-August levels. I'm estimating 50,000 more vehicles a day will be traveling the region's tortuous road system after the three-month hiatus.
The increase has exponential impact. That is, rush-hour backups will grow more than 10 percent. Traffic queues will build earlier and last longer, at traffic choke points such as the Fort Pitt, Squirrel Hill and Liberty tunnels, Route 28 at the 31st Street Bridge, Second Avenue, Ohio River Boulevard and McKnight Road. Parking garages and lots will fill up earlier. Buses and the light-snail trolley system will be more crowded.
This happens at a time when PennDOT steps up paving and construction work, a consequence of a state fiscal year that brings a flurry of bidding and project awards in July and August. Then contractors make the big push to finish as much work as possible before winter
Here's a rule of thumb to plan your commuting time, whether by car, van pool or bus: Multiply the average time your trip took last month by 20 percent. For example, if it took you 30 minutes to drive to, through or around Downtown or Oakland, add six minutes. Add nine minutes for a 45-minute commute, road construction, accidents, breakdowns and poorly trained, lethargic or nonchalant traffic cops notwithstanding.
There's no serious survival guide to help ease the pain of going from low season to high season on our hectic highways. But I offer two bits of advice: be patient and plan.
Letters and e-mails to Grata's Guide have overwhelmed me. I'll get to some more correspondence in future columns. For now, let's hear from people who would rather be waving a Terrible Towel than facing Terrible Tuesday.
?????Paul Kueser of Pleasant Hills says Mayor Murphy should get involved in improving traffic flow on Route 51 if Kueser and friends are to continue patronizing the symphony, ballet and Broadway Series in Pittsburgh. "I get more and more exasperated at the waste of time in the [Liberty] tunnels, because of no thought to those of us interested in the city."
?Kathleen Henciak of Mt. Lebanon still prefers to shop, dine and patronize Downtown events, but "Try to get there!" she says. Two years ago, she moved into a house within a few minutes' drive of two park-n-ride lots for the T, but can't get a spot after 8 a.m. "My blood boils when I hear the Port Authority complain ridership is down, or Tom Murphy trying to lure people Downtown with his plan, 'Build it and they will come.' Haven't any of the high-priced experts ever thought of adding another tier or two to these so-called park-n-rides?"
?J. Allen Slater of Brookline wonders why Route 51 motorists have to wait for the traffic lights to cycle for left turns at Bausman Street on one side of the Liberty Tunnels and at Crane Avenue on the other side when no one is making a turn. "This contributes to backups at both lights," he said, because loop detectors are detactivated or no longer working. Can't PennDOT have someone take 15 minutes and flip the switch?"
?Gay Brown of Allison Park suggests the Interstate 279 high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes should be open to anyone wanting to use them outbound during afternoon rush hours, not just for vehicles carrying a minimum of two people, because outbound functions a bit differently than inbound. "What a waste," she said. "With the new stadiums going up, North Side traffic is horrific. Doesn't anyone care about ozone action? Must we continue to hide the huge mistake called the HOV?"
?Peter Christensen of Bethel Park, who moved here two years ago from Atlanta, where roads are wide and cars are king, is puzzled as to why there aren't better ways to commute Downtown, forcing drivers to use residential streets and race to get ahead. "Don't tell me Route 19, because everyone knows it's slower than side streets," he said. "Don't tell me it's the trolley, because it's slower than driving. I can't imagine the South Hills would not be better off by designating a commuter route, coordinating lights and improving traffic flow to keep impatient commuters like me off their residential streets."
?Dawna Martich of Castle Shannon, "a Pittsburgher from birth," says people think she's nuts when she tells them she leaves for work at 7:15 a.m. but doesn't reach the Liberty Tunnels before 8. She averages 9 mph from home to the Liberty Technology Center, Downtown. When she used to drive twice as far to work out the Parkway West, she averaged 36 mph. Why are many businesses locating outside the city. "Go figure, huh?"
Suggestion du jour. The Port Authority ended streetcar service on the lightly patronized Drake line this weekend, ending a historic era that shouldn't be forgotten.
Can the authority take one of those nostalgic PCC trolleys, built in the 1940s, and permanently park it on a knoll outside the north end of the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel? It's a perfect setting, directly across from the historic Smithfield Street Bridge and landmark Station Square complex, and near the Monongahela Incline.
Plate du jour. Spotted on a BMW on Route 51, the Pennsylvania license plate FULOBUL. People on the transportation beat I cover think it's my car.
Send your transportation questions, complaints and suggestions to Joe Grata c/o The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or e-mail him at jgrata@post-gazette.com. Include address and phone number, please.
