I-376 (Parkway West) - MAJOR Improvements Coming! (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: dangerous, design)

[bradjl2009]

It's not like 376 isn't the way to another major transportation piece for the metro either.........

[speagles84]

Originally Posted by xdv8

What makes think widening or lane expansion solves anything? More lanes just makes people drive more, it's called induced traffic and it's very real and very ignored. There is a reason why Atlanta is a sprawling mess, and a lot of it has to do with your logic. If you build bigger roads people feel more comfortable living further away creating more traffic.

Where in the orginial post is there "widening"? Ramp extension is safety improvements not widening. Might want to open your eyes beyond your tunnel vision.

[Forging Steel]

Looking at the cost estimates, the Carnegie project is the lowest and will probably just see ramp extensions rather than a major reconfiguration.

They are going to build the new ramp to 376 EB which is sorely needed, and I am guessing the majority of the money will go towards this new ramp and bridge as mentioned in the OP. The new bridge will be needed to carry this ramp around one of the supports for the train trestle before traffic can merge (as the OP mentioned, it will obviously be extended to meet up with the climbing/exit lane for Greentree.

Also the more I think about Banksville, I think it's more likely we see flyover ramps from the Parkway to both directions on 51, and leaving the existing merge in place for Banksville Road before the tunnels. It will be interesting to see how they reroute 51 westbound traffic into the tunnels for example, since right now it's kind of crazy.

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by xdv8

Good news for suburban drivers. Hope it's worth the $110mm+ it will cost, unfortunately highway improvements only induce more traffic so don't get too excited.

One of the many statements I've come up with in regards to driving here is, "you can make every road and highway here ten lanes in each direction, but you'll never see a true change unless people start focusing on simply keeping traffic moving"

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by Forging Steel

Looking at the cost estimates, the Carnegie project is the lowest and will probably just see ramp extensions rather than a major reconfiguration.

They are going to build the new ramp to 376 EB which is sorely needed, and I am guessing the majority of the money will go towards this new ramp and bridge as mentioned in the OP. The new bridge will be needed to carry this ramp around one of the supports for the train trestle before traffic can merge (as the OP mentioned, it will obviously be extended to meet up with the climbing/exit lane for Greentree.

Also the more I think about Banksville, I think it's more likely we see flyover ramps from the Parkway to both directions on 51, and leaving the existing merge in place for Banksville Road before the tunnels. It will be interesting to see how they reroute 51 westbound traffic into the tunnels for example, since right now it's kind of crazy.

51 EB and WB both have little reason to be directed in to the tunnels since they're either coming from the Liberty bridge tunnels direction or West Carson direction, both of which have access to Parkway East. Unless they plan to knock down that giant hill behind banksville highway, I think the only configuration that makes sense is a couple flyovers to minimize the merge/exiting traffic that bottlenecks the entrance to the tunnel. it doesn't fix everything, but adds another relief valve to the already convoluted mess.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by 8YearsinPittsburgh

"you can make every road and highway here ten lanes in each direction, but you'll never see a true change unless people start focusing on simply keeping traffic moving"

You can focus on keeping traffic moving, but nothing will change as long as the highways are carrying almost double their designed capacity and have stop signs at the end of their on-ramps.

[8YearsinPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by Craziaskowboi

You can focus on keeping traffic moving, but nothing will change as long as the highways are carrying almost double their designed capacity and have stop signs at the end of their on-ramps.

The only on ramps that cause problems are the ones where people create the make believe stop signs. There are so few ramps on that highway that have actual, physical stop signs, they aren't even worth commenting on. It's the people who slow to 20 mph or less to allow people to merge

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by 8YearsinPittsburgh

The only on ramps that cause problems are the ones where people create the make believe stop signs. There are so few ramps on that highway that have actual, physical stop signs, they aren't even worth commenting on. It's the people who slow to 20 mph or less to allow people to merge

One of the on-ramps with an actual stop sign seems to be among the ones scheduled for a re-vamp. It's the closest on-ramp to 376 near my house. I drive about a half mile or so further out of my way to use a merge style on-ramp with far better visibility.

One big difference I've noticed since moving here from CA is that many drivers are unclear on the concept of merging into traffic. I wonder if it's because those stop sign style on-ramps were more prevalent at one time?

[Geeo]

The only ramp with a stop sign I know about is the Squirrel Hill on-ramp eastbound. When I first moved here I went to get on the parkway and started speeding up and saw the stop sign at the last minute and ground to a halt. I didn't realize the on-ramp merged onto the exit ramp for oncoming traffic, which is probably why the stop sign is there. 1940s design technology, plus the fact that nobody lived beyond Wilkinsburg in those days meant less traffic.

[trotter_rej]

Originally Posted by Geeo

The only ramp with a stop sign I know about is the Squirrel Hill on-ramp eastbound. When I first moved here I went to get on the parkway and started speeding up and saw the stop sign at the last minute and ground to a halt. I didn't realize the on-ramp merged onto the exit ramp for oncoming traffic, which is probably why the stop sign is there. 1940s design technology, plus the fact that nobody lived beyond Wilkinsburg in those days meant less traffic.

One of the Greentree on-ramps has a stop sign as well.

As I understand it, before the stop-sign ramp was built at Squirrel Hill, traffic merged directly from Beechwood Blvd. onto the parkway and vice-versa before the tunnel.