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Wednesday, April 02, 2003

By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Because of an apparent oversight in the Fort Pitt Bridge and Tunnel construction plan, a new high-speed connector ramp that is part of a main detour will be open only part time this summer.

The nonstop ramp from the Fort Duquesne Bridge to the Parkway East (Interstate 376), finished four months ago, will be open from 4 to 8 p.m. for six days beginning Tuesday, then from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day thereafter for the rest of the summer.

	Online Map: of Fort Pitt Bridge detour

The closures are needed because the contractor, Trumbull Corp. of West Mifflin, will tear down an adjacent, elevated ramp -- the one leading from the inbound Fort Pitt Bridge to the Parkway East.

The 2,500-foot ramp where Trumbull is working sits next to the new connector ramp built last year and opened in December as part of a $32.5 million project that included reconstructing Fort Pitt Boulevard eastbound.

For months, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has promoted Route 51 north, the West End Bridge and the Fort Duquesne Bridge to the connector ramp as a detour around the Fort Pitt Tunnel and Bridge project.

The new detour-on-a-detour may not be major. Traffic will be diverted onto the eastbound city lanes of Fort Pitt Boulevard, pass through three traffic signals, and be sent down what is tantamount to the old Wood Street entry ramp to the Parkway East toward Monroeville.

"It's a closure of the direct, high-speed lane," said Kimberly Schultz, project manager for Trumbull. "Traffic will use the parallel lanes, so we're not detouring it through Downtown. Unfortunately, people will be slowed down at times."

On average, 17,000 vehicles go from the Fort Duquesne Bridge to the Parkway East on a weekday.

"Closing the connector ramp is a safety issue" because cranes, other equipment and workers will occupy the area during demolition and reconstruction of the Fort Pitt Bridge exit rxamp, Schultz said.

In their planning, PennDOT and its engineering consultants had not anticipated that the Fort Duquesne Bridge-Parkway East ramp would be built and open by now. When Trumbull bid the project in 2001, PennDOT's contract specifications didn't provide for the connector ramp being finished, open and used as a detour.

"So it's a new twist," Schultz said.

The city of Pittsburgh isn't happy.

"This caught us by surprise and it's not something we are looking forward to," said Fred Reginella, city director of engineering and construction. "All of this is very, very complicated. I don't know how the public will take it."

Reginella wants changes in the closure schedule for the first six days.

"We would like to like to see the connector ramp open for the morning rush hours and an hour earlier [3 p.m.] in the afternoon," he said. "After having paid large sums of money to accelerate completion of the [Fort Pitt Boulevard] work, to close it now at the height of the detour seems somewhat incomprehensible."

Reginella contacted PennDOT District 11 engineer Ray Hack yesterday morning.

"I told him I was dismayed [about] how this will affect Wood Street and Smithfield Street," currently near gridlock at times, he said. "Ray promised that PennDOT would take another look and reconsider its position."

Closing the connector nightly for the duration of the project -- possibly until Halloween when the Fort Pitt Bridge exit ramp is to be completed -- will put stress on city streets and on patrons of a myriad of sports and special events.