Route 28 is getting better. (Pittsburgh, Butler: home, neighborhoods, closing)

[robrobrob]

With Rialto street closed, my commute on Route 28 has gotten much better. This coupled, with the work that they did by Etna last year, Route 28 really isn't that bad coming home anymore.

So what do you think, should Rialto street be closed permantly? Do you think that most of the people that use Rialto street are just trying to avoid traffic on 28?

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

I use 28 every day and expect it get very bad come the spring when the big project starts. Expect major delays and reroutes (using Butler St. in Lawrenceville). Hopefully the payoff (total elimination of traffic lights from Pittsburgh to Kittanning) is worth it.

I agree about Rialto Street, I'm not sure it is feasible to keep it open. I am not sure how will be incorporated into the new 31st St. interchange.

[Heit]

28 has always been and will continue to be a "constant work in progress". The hillside from Etna to Millvale is an accident waiting to happen, no matter how they "try" to fix it.

[Squeamish]

Closing Rialto St. permanently would require up to a 2-3 mile detour (depending on their specific destination) for people coming from (or going to) neighborhoods directly across the 31st street bridge going to Troy Hill/Spring Hill/Spring Garden. From my reckonings, most of these people would be coming from Oakland and the East End neighborhoods, and from there it's not a huge distance farther to take the 40th street bridge and then go up Logan in Millvale to Troy Hill. The real losers would be those coming from Polish Hill or the eastern part of the strip district where they would have to drive upriver or downriver, cross a different bridge, then back the direction they came parallel to the river in Troy Hill or Spring Garden. This, however, as far as I can guesstimate is a very small group of people - only a few neighborhoods on each side would still benefit from using Rialto to connect. Then there are people coming from (or going to) rt. 28 to the northeast going farther to the northwest up Spring Garden Ave. They would have to wind around on Logan and Pittview instead of taking 28 to Rialto, which would add a few minutes to their drive. This, however, is also a very small group of people, as far as I can guesstimate. Another alternative would be rt. 28 to side streets in Deutschtown to the parkway north.

Overall, closing Rialto would not cause that many people to take huge detours, but it would for a few, and also being that it's the ONLY street going in that direction between Deutschtown and Millvale, it doesn't seem like good planning to close it - the area would become much more disconnected. I'd be a lot more concerned if it was closed to bikes and walkers - they would have an insanely long detour - but I doubt they'd have a need for that.

One alternative to rt. 28 during rush hour could be Bigelow to the Bloomfield bridge to side streets over to Penn to Matilda in Garfield to either Mossfield or Schenley to Black to Negley to The Hill Rd to the Highland Park bridge. Taking Chislett then through Morningside would be a variation on that, whether it's worthwhile would partially depend on how many stop signs there are going through Morningside, and my recollection is there's one almost every block.

I doubt there'd be as much rush hour jams on this route, but the stoplights and stop signs may add more time than the rush hour jam on rt. 28. It's hard to say.

[robrobrob]

To me Rialto street causes most of the traffic on Route 28. I just don't know how many of the cars that come down it during rush hour are actually residents of Troy Hill or people that take a short cut to avoid traffic. Frankly, I think most are people trying to avoid the traffic on 28. This is why I think it should be closed permanently.