SW Pennsylvania

[Mr_Northside]

Might as well just V-cut the tunnel out, remove everything above it like they want to in Wheeling, and it would probably be far cheaper and easier than building a bypass of the tunnel.

Not with all the property they'd have to buy.... Squirrel Hill is one of the more expensive neighborhoods in the city.
Also, there is no way, politically, it would ever happen that they would just cut out the corridor.

If I have another 40-50 years left on this planet, I expect that what is there now (highway wise) will be what is there on my dying day.

[ARMOURERERIC]

Liberty Avenue between 12th and 34th to go on road diet as part of improvements"

Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh to get turning lane, traffic light upgrade | TribLIVE


Post Merge: July 27, 2017, 10:34:47 PM
Try this.

http://triblive.com/local/allegheny/12534531-74/liberty-avenue-in-pittsburgh-to-get-turning-lane-traffic-light-upgrade

[Roadsguy]

For the purposes of OSM mapping, what's the timing for the lane directionality on the West End Bridge? I can hardly find any information on this, and what little I can suggests that it never changes at all except for exiting football game traffic.

[rickmastfan67]

For the purposes of OSM mapping, what's the timing for the lane directionality on the West End Bridge? I can hardly find any information on this, and what little I can suggests that it never changes at all except for exiting football game traffic.

I think it changes for Rush Hour, but I'm not sure either.  Maybe try contacting PennDOT for that info?  They maintain the road, so they should know this I would think.

[Mr_Northside]

I'm pretty sure it's just after football games (and maybe concerts at Heinz Field as well)

[ARMOURERERIC]

A developer has proposed a massive Oakland gateway development that will include developer funded improvements to the Bates Street interchange.  It would add a ramp from EB 376 that would fly over Second Avenue and merge onto Second from the right just before Bates for Glenwood bound traffic and a parallell street to Bates to the west that would have a ramp for Oakland traffic to go onto 376 W.  It would also create a much larger radius loop ramp from 376W to 885S encircling a new lake and make the 376W ramp to Bates 2 lanes and keeping to 2 lanes all the way uphill to Blvd of the Allies.

[Bitmapped]

A developer has proposed a massive Oakland gateway development that will include developer funded improvements to the Bates Street interchange.  It would add a ramp from EB 376 that would fly over Second Avenue and merge onto Second from the right just before Bates for Glenwood bound traffic and a parallell street to Bates to the west that would have a ramp for Oakland traffic to go onto 376 W.  It would also create a much larger radius loop ramp from 376W to 885S encircling a new lake and make the 376W ramp to Bates 2 lanes and keeping to 2 lanes all the way uphill to Blvd of the Allies.

This would pretty substantially improve access to the Southside Works shopping area across the Monongahela River. Right now, access to/from the west to here is pretty indirect.

[CanesFan27]

You may or may not recall the stub end to the US 40 Expressway just east of Brownsville.  After sitting idle for 40 years, the highway finally extended souteastwards as part of the Redstone Connector to PA 43.  Well, I resurrected an old page about it and found some historic aerials and an old map to try and figure out what the original plans were...and still am not sure.  So why not throw it out there and see what others may know!

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-story-on-how-unbuilt-us-40.html

Last week, I had a blog comment with new information about where that never built highway was to go and what happened to it.

"According to the 25 Mar 1975 The Evening Standard (Uniontown PA):

Proposed construction of a four-lane roadway (Route 40) from the Grindstone Rd. to Uniontown has been held up due to an Environmental Impact Statement and changes necessitated by the Brier Hill "new town" project falling through. A public hearing should be held within the next two months but construction is at least three years away. The project includes a 6.9-mile section from the interchange at the Grindstone Rd. to Rocks Works at a cost of $14 million and another section from Rocks Works to the Uniontown by-pass, four miles at an estimated cost of $15 million."

Now of course that leads to new questions - what was the alignment and how much does the current PA Toll 43 follow those plans from the 1960s & 70s?  Where and how would have it connected to the US 119 Uniontown Bypass?  What was the Brier Hill "new town" project.  Brier Hill was a company mining town built in the early 1900s and the mine closed shop in 1937.  The community was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 - did that have something to do with it?  I had never heard of Rocks Works until this new information and it just seems like a crossroads but who knows.

I think I can safely that the financial difficulties of PennDot during this time period killed this project like so many others.

Looks like if we head home to PA over Thanksgiving a little more digging in Fayette County is now on the agenda.

[ARMOURERERIC]

I always thought that the PA 21 interchange with US 119 was too high powered and planned for something more important.

[CanesFan27]

Feature on the old Donora-Webster bridge and that distinct sound from an open-grate bridge.

http://quintessentialpa.blogspot.com/2017/10/donora-webster-bridge.html

[Bitmapped]

I always thought that the PA 21 interchange with US 119 was too high powered and planned for something more important.

It's a trumpet with a 25mph loop. It's not high powered at all.

PA 21 is too close to US 40 to allow mainline PA 21 to interchange directly with the bypass. The interchange setup used now provides spacing between the interchanges along US 119.

[CanesFan27]

One of the curious pieces of Pittsburgh's highway history is the never completed interchange between the Crosstown Expressway (Interstate 579) and Bigelow Boulevard (PA 380).  When construction stopped in the mid-60s on the Crosstown project, a ghost ramp was built into the retaining wall of eastbound Bigelow Boulevard for the eventual tie in of a ramp from what would become Interstate 579 South. 

When construction to complete 579 began in the mid-80s, the plans for a full interchange between the two roadways were dropped - and the ghost ramp is all that remained.  It is widely believed that the addition of the 279/579 HOV Lanes is what killed this ramp, but other theories - including historic preservation - exist. 

Take a look at the slightly revamped page of a gribblenation classic.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-bigelow-blvd-crosstown-expressway.html

[CanesFan27]

It is widely agreed that one of the nation's most substandard sections of Interstate is Interstate 70 from New Stanton to Washington, Pennsylvania.

Built in the early-mid 1950's, this section of Interstate 70 has numerous features that are below Interstate standards - and were even when the I-70S (later I-70) designation was applied to it.  Consider, a 4' median, deceleration/acceleration ramps less than 400', and more are well below Interstate standards.

One of the more dangerous areas is the Speers-Belle Vernon Bridge over the Monongahela River.  Well into the 1970's, the travel lanes of this bridge were paved with macadam and the median consisted of a 6" wide - 4" high raised median.  It was one of the most deadly stretches of Interstate in Western Pennsylvania.

In the 1970's, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation had plans to widen Interstate 70 to six lanes and also built a six lane bypass of the Speers-Belle Vernon area to the highway's south.  This would have included a new bridge over the Mon at Allenport & Fayette City.  Unfortunately, like many PennDOT projects of the 1970s, these plans were killed due to the agency's ongoing fiscal issues.

I've updated an old gribblenation page on this never realized plan to upgrade and relocate Interstate 70.  As always, any additional insight and information is greatly appreciated.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-relief-route-that-wasnt-never-built.html

[CanesFan27]

Another old SWPA Roads Project feature updated for the blog.  The numerous failed plans and boondoggles of the Wabash Bridge and Tunnel.

Currently a reversible rush-hour facility, the Wabash Tunnel has a colorful history or curse of bad timing and lost money.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-many-failed-plans-of-pittsburghs.html

[Roadsguy]

Another old SWPA Roads Project feature updated for the blog.  The numerous failed plans and boondoggles of the Wabash Bridge and Tunnel.

Currently a reversible rush-hour facility, the Wabash Tunnel has a colorful history or curse of bad timing and lost money.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-many-failed-plans-of-pittsburghs.html

Come to think of it, since the tunnel is two full lanes, why does it reverse at all if it's still just one lane? Why not have two reversible lanes or just leave it open two-way 24/7?

[CanesFan27]

Another old SWPA Roads Project feature updated for the blog.  The numerous failed plans and boondoggles of the Wabash Bridge and Tunnel.

Currently a reversible rush-hour facility, the Wabash Tunnel has a colorful history or curse of bad timing and lost money.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-many-failed-plans-of-pittsburghs.html

Come to think of it, since the tunnel is two full lanes, why does it reverse at all if it's still just one lane? Why not have two reversible lanes or just leave it open two-way 24/7?

They are ten foot lanes.  So concerns over head-on commissions is why.

[CanesFan27]

Thanks for writing about this.  I grew up in Belle Vernon and had researched that stretch of I-70 and its origin, but I had no idea about the plans for a bypass.  I wonder if Joe Grata remembers or knows more about this.  He retired from the Post-Gazette some time ago but is still active in the community - including President of the Belle Vernon Area School Board.

I've met Joe twice at road meets we had in the Mon Valley  over the years.  I should reach out to him through another retired P-G that has an interest in the hobby, Pete Zapadka.

Joe most likely has the most knowledge of anyone about Western PA highways plans and projects from the mid-late 60s to today.

[BigRedDog]

It is widely agreed that one of the nation's most substandard sections of Interstate is Interstate 70 from New Stanton to Washington, Pennsylvania....

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-relief-route-that-wasnt-never-built.html

Thanks for writing about this.  I grew up in Belle Vernon and had researched that stretch of I-70 and its origin, but I had no idea about the plans for a bypass.  I wonder if Joe Grata remembers or knows more about this.  He retired from the Post-Gazette some time ago but is still active in the community - including President of the Belle Vernon Area School Board.

I'll add my thanks, too. I grew up in Monongahela and still live in the area. I'd heard rumors of the bypass, but this was a good introduction. If you find any other info, I'd love to read it.

[Henry]

I think I have reason to believe that PA 43 and PA 576 will be the last two new freeway projects in the area, seeing that it is as built up and pricey as Philadelphia.

[Bitmapped]

I think I have reason to believe that PA 43 and PA 576 will be the last two new freeway projects in the area, seeing that it is as built up and pricey as Philadelphia.

There's really not a lot of need for additional freeways in SW PA. What is most needed is the widening and reconstruction of existing freeways.

[Henry]

There are plans to cap I-579 in downtown Pittsburgh:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2017/12/04/Pedestrian-park-Interstate-579-Crosstown-Boulevard-Lower-Hill-District-PIttsburgh/stories/201712040015

[CanesFan27]

For those of us that grew up in the Mid Mon Valley or even the South Hills, you have to take 51 and Saw Mill Run Boulevard into Pittsburgh.  The narrow, traffic congested highway, that's seems to have been stuck in a time warp. 

Well about a 90 years ago, the road was celebrated as a much needed link into Pittsburgh.  I've updated an article I wrote about 51 and Saw Mill Run Blvd on its history and some of the proposals to improve the highway that never came to be.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-look-at-pittsburghs-saw-mill-run.html

[CanesFan27]

During the late 1990s while a student at Robert Morris, I had an internship in Millvale that required me to take PA 65/Ohio River Boulevard back and forth from the Moon Township campus. 

I enjoyed this drive - it was a mix of beautiful homes, old style highway businesses, some neat bridges, and every now and then some gold brick side streets. 

It wasn't until after I left Pittsburgh that I really discovered the history of this road and it's own unique piece of Pittsburgh.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/12/pittsburghs-ohio-river-boulevard.html

[CanesFan27]

Allegheny River Boulevard is perhaps the most scenic of the Pittsburgh's four City Beautiful highways built in the late 1920s. Running along the south shore of the river the highway is named after, Allegheny River Boulevard was infamously known in the 1930s as "Bungle Boulevard" as a result of errors in planning.

Today, preservationists are trying to restore the eight "observation lookouts" that give this road a parkway feel.

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/12/allegheny-river-boulevard-pittsburghs.html

[ARMOURERERIC]

I once long ago viewed a PA hwy map of Pittsburgh that predated Saw Mill Run Blvd and the West End Bridge.  I was fascinated at the routing of PA 51 and 88 back then:  Both crossing into the triangle via S18th street to Carson to the S10th Street bridge, then second ave with 88 going across the Manchester Bridge and 51 back across the Point Bridge to Carson Street.  Blvd of the Allies also did not exist past downtown so US 22/30 went out Bigelow to Craig to Baum