PennDOT Proposes Access Control Plan for Parkway East (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: neighborhoods, construction)

[FreightTrainRunning]

Post-Gazette:

Closing some on-ramps and installing traffic signals on others may be the key to easing congestion and reducing crashes on the Parkway East.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has budgeted $5 million for design and construction of a ramp metering system similar to those that have improved traffic flow and safety in several other U.S. cities.

On a metered ramp, a red-green traffic signal allows one vehicle at a time to enter the highway. The timing of the signals can be adjusted based on traffic volumes, but they typically allow a vehicle to pass every few seconds. In nonpeak periods, they can be turned off.

[BrianTH]

There are a few different ramps that feed into the same access point as the ramp from southbound Braddock. I wonder if they are talking about closing all of those, or just the one ramp from southbound Braddock.

[SteelCityRising]

As an individual who frequently will make a food delivery to Regent Square and will then have to quickly get to a South Oakland restaurant to pick up another order (let's say from Mad Mex) I'm not really looking forward to being unable to access I-376 inbound from Regent Square. The alternative route through Swisshelm Park, past the Summerset at the Frick, and then either back onto I-376 inbound in Squirrel Hill or through Schenley Park to get to South Oakland will add much more time onto our orders.

[bradjl2009]

This proposal is in the very early stages. The way the article sounded, this won't start until 2016 at the earliest.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

This proposal is in the very early stages. The way the article sounded, this won't start until 2016 at the earliest.

VERY early, and seems as though area politicians aren't happy about the possible overflow of traffic in to city neighborhoods.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

As an individual who frequently will make a food delivery to Regent Square and will then have to quickly get to a South Oakland restaurant to pick up another order (let's say from Mad Mex) I'm not really looking forward to being unable to access I-376 inbound from Regent Square. The alternative route through Swisshelm Park, past the Summerset at the Frick, and then either back onto I-376 inbound in Squirrel Hill or through Schenley Park to get to South Oakland will add much more time onto our orders.

I think you may be able to get going inbound from Regent Square in the evenings. So unless you are doing a lot of morning deliveries, I'm not sure this would be a problem.

[Craziaskowboi]

Just close the eastbound on-ramp from Beechwood Boulevard altogether. Rip it out of the ground and salt the earth where it once laid.

[escilade18]

The meters work well to control the traffic in LA, so hopefully it will help in Pittsburgh. There are two other onramps where I think they should be put, Parkway Center drive onto the parkway west inbound, and Banksville onto the parkway west inbound, those 2 merge points almost single-handily cause the congestion on that road (well besides the tunnel-monster of course )

[stburr91]

I think this is a great idea. I mean, it's not like the people being denied equal access to this public road, pay any transportation taxes. Also, residential streets are better able to handle high volumes of traffic than the main roads and highways, so it should be no problem for these people to find alternative routes. Let's face it, Braddock, Forbes, Penn, and Fifth are all way under capacity, so this will get more people using these streets. Of course, these people could just take one of the many new bus routes that PAT will be adding in the coming years. One last thing, it's not like Wilkinsburg and Swissvale need highway access as a selling point in their redevelopment efforts.

Like I said, this is a great idea.