Squirrel Hill tunnel (Pittsburgh, Oakland, Penn: neighborhood, malls, bus)

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by bboy36win

What's the deal with the Squirrel Hill tunnel at rush hour? I don't get it. I've been through many times at non-peak hours (though never at rush hour) and breezed right through. I understand that people will naturally slow down a little when going through a tunnel, but 15-20 minutes from the Wilkinsburg exit to the tunnel? I mean, what are people doing in there?

LOL, one of my favorite topics!

I purposely drive to Squirrel Hill to get on I 376 to avoid that nonsense. And I live on South Braddock, all I should have to do is drive down the street and get on at the Edgewood Swissvale exit.

When we first moved to Point Breeze, I went to get on one morning and saw how backed up it was, so I figured there was an accident. I turned around and went an alternate route. Same thing the next morning. The third morning, I went to get on, and got a little further, but then slow down to nothing. I said, "must be an accident". No accident. I said "must be construction", no construction. So I'm like what the hell is going on?

In all honesty, if I had any kind of rank or authority in the PSP, I'd have someone there every day waving just like the article said. There is no reason for it. The minute people get out of the tunnel its like they were shot out of a cannon, and it's still as congested as it was before entering.

[mjost7]

Think of the tunnels and the freeways outside of them like pipes carrying water (vehicles). The tunnels are like narrower pipes with less capacity since the tunnels have no shoulders while the freeways have shoulders. The presence of shoulders makes all the difference. When a driver is following another vehicle, the driver must leave more headway between vehicles when in the tunnel than when on the freeway with shoulders. This is because if the vehicle in front suddenly stops, the following driver could swerve onto the shoulder (of the freeway) BUT if that same front vehicle suddenly stopped (in the tunnel) there's nowhere for the following vehicle to swerve! Therefore more room must be maintained between vehicles, and therefore there is lower density in the traffic stream in the tunnel. I suggest the books traffic by Tom Vanderbilt and traffic flow theory by Adolf May for a more detailed explaination.

[PeterRabbit]

Shoulder or no shoulder, you shouldn't be following so close that if the car in front of you slams on the brakes you will run into them. When you leave an adequate distance between you and the car in front, some ******* will cut into the lane halving that distance.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by mjost7

Think of the tunnels and the freeways outside of them like pipes carrying water (vehicles). The tunnels are like narrower pipes with less capacity since the tunnels have no shoulders while the freeways have shoulders. The presence of shoulders makes all the difference. When a driver is following another vehicle, the driver must leave more headway between vehicles when in the tunnel than when on the freeway with shoulders. This is because if the vehicle in front suddenly stops, the following driver could swerve onto the shoulder (of the freeway) BUT if that same front vehicle suddenly stopped (in the tunnel) there's nowhere for the following vehicle to swerve! Therefore more room must be maintained between vehicles, and therefore there is lower density in the traffic stream in the tunnel. I suggest the books traffic by Tom Vanderbilt and traffic flow theory by Adolf May for a more detailed explaination.

Oh please, who wants to read some scientific explanation?

It's a bunch of people packing a roadway who aren't smart enough to find alternate routes to their destination, who don't value time in their life enough to take public transportation, and who don't know how to properly handle their vehicles or obey the PA Drivers guide.

There, now I should write a book.

[youngabe]

I drive in from out near Murrysville everyday. The Parkway East has a mind of it's own. Lol, my carpoolers and I always joke about this. Thursdays always seem to be the heaviest. Today the traffic was jamming right after Churchill to the tunnels. But tomorrow, Friday, it will be slowing up just after Wilkinsburg, approaching Edgewood/Swissvale, and that is a breeze!

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by youngabe

I drive in from out near Murrysville everyday. The Parkway East has a mind of it's own. Lol, my carpoolers and I always joke about this. Thursdays always seem to be the heaviest. Today the traffic was jamming right after Churchill to the tunnels. But tomorrow, Friday, it will be slowing up just after Wilkinsburg, approaching Edgewood/Swissvale, and that is a breeze!

It's also been bad right up to around noon.

[Awesomo.2000]

Compared to other cities our size: Pittsburgh has amazing architecture, tight old urban neighborhoods, quality museums, a compact downtown, and other amenities that other cities don't compare.

However, our highways and roads are deplorable. The civil engineers that designed these roads have created some of the worst systems I have ever seen. I live in Squirrel Hill, and have to go out towards Monroeville towards my parents house all the time. I have never once seen a enterance where I have to switch over 2 lanes into traffic travelling at 65 mph on average (not rush hour) within 100 feet to get in the right lane to go through the tunnel. The lane switching on the fort Pitt tunnel is just as bad. Most cities have nice highway systems, exit and enterence ramps with plenty of time and length. Pittsburgh's is just horrible. The bad news is, there is no way to fix it either. What solution can really be done to fix the bottlenecks before the tunnel? It is a problem we are going to face. The only thing we can hope for is better public transportation systems. However, I feel that that is not important in this metro to most people. I am starting to get annoyed with how people behave around here when it comes to supporting public transporation projects. At first I thought many were for it, than found out it is just the 1% of liberals in Squirrel HIll that I know, and most in the metro are suburbinties that want their car to drive, their office parks, and strip malls and are just as guilty for being a part of allowing this city to not live to it's potential.

[TechieTransplant]

I've seen a lot of people comment about that, but there is still a big problem with people not using their head while driving.

[trotter_rej]

Originally Posted by Awesomo.2000

I live in Squirrel Hill, and have to go out towards Monroeville towards my parents house all the time. I have never once seen a enterance where I have to switch over 2 lanes into traffic travelling at 65 mph on average (not rush hour) within 100 feet to get in the right lane to go through the tunnel.

I've posted this on another thread, but the interchange you describe used to be even worse (prior to my first license 22 years ago). There was no separate on-ramp to get to 376 E. The traffic was free to merge between 376 and Beechwood Blvd. at the Squirrel Hill exit (even closer to the tunnel).

[xburgher]

Considering it is one of the only 3 highway routes into the city and no by-pass what-so-ever what do you expect?