Parkway West outbound to close all weekend
One last hurdle after the Pittsburgh Marathon ...
Marathon runners are familiar with “the wall” — severe fatigue that often sets in about 20 miles into the run. For some, this year’s Pittsburgh Marathon will have a second “wall” that will come after the race.
The outbound Parkway West will be closed for construction all weekend, compounding the challenge that drivers face from the typical marathon-related road closures.
The closure will start at the Green Tree-Crafton interchange and continue to Interstate 79, starting at 10 tonight and ending by 6 a.m. Monday.
For those headed to Pittsburgh International Airport or other points west, here is the posted detour:
Use Exit 67 at Green Tree-Crafton, bearing left to Route 121 toward Crafton; turn left at Mansfield Avenue; left at Noblestown Road-Route 50, which becomes East Main Street; right at Jane
Street, which becomes Mansfield Boulevard and then West Main Street; use the ramp to northbound I-79 to return to the parkway.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation made the decision to allow its contractor on the $72.8 million parkway project to close the outbound side this weekend. No inbound restrictions are planned.
Spokesman Steve Cowan said outbound work was planned to avoid delaying participants from reaching the city for the marathon.
“Because the race events will end at different times for different people, the outbound Parkway West detour route will not see a huge influx of motorists all at one time as it would after a concert or baseball game,” he said.
Last year’s marathon was on the same day as a Pirates home game and a Penguins home playoff game. This year the Pirates are in St. Louis, and the Penguins, well, you know.
The first of numerous Downtown street closures begins at noon today on the Boulevard of the Allies between Wood and Stanwix streets. Those blocks will remain closed through Sunday.
Closures for Saturday’s 5kilometer run and kids marathon will be in place from 7:30 a.m. to noon on the North Shore and in Downtown. The first closures for Sunday’s races begin at 11:30 p.m. Saturday, when Liberty Avenue will close from Commonwealth Place to 10th Street, and Stanwix will close from Penn Avenue to Allies.
The Downtown area bounded by Stanwix, Allies, Smithfield Street and Liberty will be closed to traffic from 6 to 9 a.m. Sunday. On the North Shore, a section north of the Allegheny River between Federal and Anderson streets will be closed to traffic from 6 to 10 a.m.
Rolling closures on the marathon and half-marathon route will occur as follows: Downtown-Strip District, 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; North Side, 6 to 9:35 a.m.; West End-South Side, 6 to 10: 50 a. m.; Oakland-Shadyside-Point Breeze, 6:30 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.; Homewood-East Liberty-Highland Park-Friendship, 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Bloomfield, 7:30 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. Those times are estimates and subject to change.
Access to the interior of the course from Downtown will be possible by using First Avenue, Ross Street and Bigelow Boulevard.
More information is available at www.thepittsburghmarathon.com at the Race Day tab.
Parking will be available at Downtown garages and lots, but race organizers recommend arriving two hours early. Several North Shore parking facilities will be open, and rides on the T to Downtown are free. Realtime updates on parking availability can be viewed at www.parkpgh.org.
More than 50 Port Authority routes will be detoured, with Downtown service rerouted along Ross Street toward Steel Plaza Station to give riders access to the T, spokeswoman Heather Pharo said.
Light Rail Transit service will start earlier than usual on Sunday, with the first Red Line train leaving South Hills Village at 4:06 a.m. and the first Blue Line train departing from Library at 4:16 a.m. Extra service on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway starts at 4:13 a.m. and on the West Busway at 4:25 a.m. Both inclines on Mount Washington will open early at 5 a.m.
Service is expected to return to normal around 3 p.m.
As a security precaution, the U.S. Postal Service will remove mailboxes from the marathon route today and Saturday and return them by the close of business Monday. Pittsburgh police will use K-9 officers to inspect trash receptacles, newspaper boxes and other enclosures, city operations director Guy Costa said.
As it has since the first Pittsburgh Marathon in 1985, the event will disrupt worship at dozens of churches, some of which have canceled or rescheduled services.