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Getting Around: The motorists speak - the Liberty Tunnels 'improvement' project needs lots of tweaking
Sunday, February 20, 2000 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Readers didn't waste time or mince words in response to last week's column soliciting opinions about the new Route 51 overpass and other improvements at the south end of the Liberty Tunnels.
"Getting Around" received almost 100 e-mails, letters and faxes.
Asked what he thought, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation district engineer Ray Hack pleaded for patience. Hack said, "Signal people are still tweaking the timing" of the traffic signals, which are being largely blamed for delays and complaints.
While a few readers extended kudos to PennDOT for improving a 75-year-old problem, most readers -- especially from Brookline -- would like to tweak Hack's nose.
Drivers felt engineers could have done better after spending $40 million at the traffic hot spot where Route 51, West Liberty Avenue, Pioneer Avenue, Warrington Avenue and the south end of the tunnels come together.
PennDOT has been getting pretty much the same reaction as the PG, Hack said.
"Overall, the investment is a worthy one," he said. "Most problems are in the morning rush hours, but we're assessing the situation every day. What you see now is not the way it's going to be forever."
Adjustments have included increasing the "green time" at the north end of the tunnel during morning rush hours and tweaking the computer-based interconnections on the complex series of signals that control traffic at the south end of the tubes.
A significant number of complaints have dealt with a new signal at the bottom of Pioneer Avenue, which has a too-short cycle for traffic making a right onto West Liberty Avenue. The green light may be extended slightly, Hack said. PennDOT also is thinking about permitting drivers to make a right turn on red.
"Things are much better today than when we first put the lights in the automatic mode," Hack said, which also is when city police who controlled the lights for years were reassigned. "During the past month, when we adjusted for a situation, we affected something else. We know people aren't happy yet, but we're trying to reach an equilibrium."
Because engineers have been concentrating on rush-hour situations, they have yet to adjust the signals to work efficiently during off-peak hours.
"Ask people who go north and south on 51 how they like taking the overpass instead of going through the intersection," Hack said.
OK, so let's hear from the people.
This Sunday's road construction/resources guide, an adjunct of this column, has been sacrificed to make more space for you to sound off.
I've tweaked the responses for size and variety, which you'll appreciate, because one letter of advice ran almost 1,000 words.
I've also made printouts of the e-mails. I'll turn all correspondence over to Hack this week, but not tomorrow. PennDOT offices are closed in observance of Presidents Day.
Duquesne University history professor Joseph P. Rishel said PennDOT applied a Band-Aid when it should have built a full-scale interchange without traffic lights. If money is a problem, he said, "Just get down on your knees and ask Bud Shuster," R-Everett, chairman of the U.S. House Transportation Committee.
Gail Knutson said the overpass has been a big time savings on Route 51 trips between Whited Street, Overbrook and the West End Circle. "How wonderful not to be tied up forever at Warrington and dealing with the [traffic cops] in the booth."
Lack of traffic signal synchronization at West Liberty and Pioneer avenues has frustrated Charles Rauzan of Upper St. Clair. "The people Mayor Murphy wants to attract to the Fifth and Forbes project won't be able to get there because they will be on West Liberty, trying to get through the intersection."
Charles Golankiewicz of Overbrook said the potential exists for road rage and a serious accident in the outbound tunnel when drivers use the right (Route 51) lane and then cut into the left lane, trying to save time to West Liberty Avenue. "City police could make a fortune here," writing traffic citations.
The way the new traffic signal is messing up traffic, Dave Vezendy of Brookline said, his morning commute to the Strip District now takes almost one hour. If something isn't done, "The city should buy me sneakers, because I could walk to work in a half-hour."
Michelle Menozzi said she was "pretty disgusted with the fact the people coming off Pioneer think they are driving on the main road and should have the right of way." She said drivers make an illegal right turn from the left lane, marked with an arrow indicating that only "straight" and "left" movements are permissible.
Retired city police officer John Vertullo, who has lived in Brookline for 33 years and uses Pioneer Avenue regularly, said there was no reason not to permit a "right turn on red" onto West Liberty Avenue during nonpeak hours. "You can see up West Liberty forever to see it's safe to make a right turn, but you can't [make one]."
Port Authority driver Robert B. Williams said riders remained on his 41B Bower Hill bus instead of transferring to the T into the city after the interchange opened in November. "Well, nothing lasts forever in paradise," he said. Things changed in January after police were pulled and lights were placed in the fully automatic mode. "Tempers became short and you could see the disappointment on the faces of people" when travel times increased by 20 to 25 minutes.
Marge Johnson of Mount Oliver has changed her route commuting home from her Perrysville job, cutting through the South Side instead of using Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Liberty Bridge and outbound tunnel. "What should take 20 minutes has taken me up to 11/2 hours. I hope someone soon makes some sense out of this mess."
"Thanks for the opportunity to vent," Mark Thompson of Baldwin Township vented. "The bottom line for me is this: The traffic situation is worse in the morning but slightly better in the afternoon rush. Unfortunately, a lot of money was spent to accommodate the relatively few motorists who bypass the tunnels on Route 51, not the thousands who converge on the tunnels via Route 51 and West Liberty/Pioneer."
One who has benefited from the overpass is Thomas M. Scherer of Baldwin Borough, who said, "Both directions on Route 51 have been a real plus for me." But he's noticing an illegal third northbound lane developing on Route 51 during the morning rush -- people trying to squeeze into two lanes designated for the inbound tunnel. "As more traffic develops in the future, that area is going to get a little testy."
When the project was dedicated Nov. 19, Josephine Perrin of McMurray read that the improvement would save lots of gasoline. "Obviously, that person has never gone down Route 19 during rush hour. I can't wait for the Fort Pitt Bridge closing. I'll be getting up at 3:30 a.m. to make it to work at 8."
John Gubala, an Annapolis, Md., resident temporarily living in the South Hills while participating in a yearlong program at Carnegie Mellon University, calls the interchange a disgrace. "Despite the notorious nature of the D.C. Beltway, problems I faced in Maryland had more to do with sheer volume than poor design of such a critical choke point."
John F. Oyler of Mt. Lebanon, a University of Pittsburgh civil engineering professor, finds the situation dramatically improved over the past when city traffic cops controlled the lights. "I could predict which policeman was on duty by the backup on West Liberty Avenue" as a result of showing favoritism toward Pioneer Avenue, he said.
The PG's labor relations director, Ray Burnett, points out the geometrics on the Route 51 northbound lanes between Bausman Street and the tunnels have contributed to confusion, clogging and several minor fender-bender accidents. While the afternoon outbound situation has improved, "Unfortunately, the signals at the 51-88 intersection are so bad, evening rush-hour traffic now backs up to Whited Street instead of the Overbrook School."
For years, Carnegie Mellon assistant professor David Sholl asked students in his mathematics classes to model an infinite line of cars behind a traffic light in the Liberty Tunnels. "I had hoped to retire this problem with the opening of the new interchange, but, so far, it doesn't look like I will be able to."
John Hredzak of Castle Shannon said things were looking better until this past week, when engineers were tweaking the signals again. "As for the morning rush, I completely avoid this area and instead use the Fort Pitt Tunnel."
Christine Tripoli of the South Side sees a positive: Her afternoon drive down Warrington Avenue to Route 51 to West Liberty has gone from "a lengthy one to a brief one." The negative: The new traffic light at West Liberty and Pioneer is slowing things for everyone.
Ralph Simmons of Greenville, who recently visited Mt. Lebanon, where he had lived for 30 years, used the new interchange two weeks ago. "I was anticipating a delay, but what a breeze," he said. "I never stopped for a light on my trip from Dormont until I was in Mercer."
Send your transportation questions, complaints and suggestions -- on everything but the Route 51 interchange for a while -- to Joe Grata c/o The Post-Gazette, or e-mail him at jgrata@post-gazette.com. Please include your address and phone number.
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