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Bus lane roadwork could worsen congestion on Greenfield Ave. | The Homepage

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By Ann Belser

The unofficial detour for the closed Charles Anderson Bridge in Schenley Park — in which drivers use Forbes and Fifth avenues — is about to get more congested. Pittsburgh Regional Transit, or PRT, is starting the construction of the dedicated bus lane in that busy corridor.

With construction of the Downtown portion of the bus lane nearly complete, the work is moving east to Uptown and Oakland.

The Charles Anderson Bridge over Junction Hollow in Schenley Park was a major connector from Squirrel Hill and Greenfield to Oakland and the Parkway East, but it closed Feb. 1, 2023.

Traffic since then has settled into a number of routes: The official detour to get around the bridge heading Downtown is to use Greenfield Road, then right onto Greenfield Avenue, right on Second Avenue and then right on Bates Street. But many motorists ignore the posted detour and just head toward Fifth Avenue to go Downtown and Forbes Avenue to drive into Squirrel Hill.

A rendering of a future bus rapid transit station planned for Fifth Avenue. The station has a roof and back but no sides. Red rectangles are painted on the road in front of the station to create a dashed red line that will allow drivers to turn off the roadway.
The planned stop for the bus lane on Fifth Avenue will have a dashed red line so cars can turn right off of the roadway. Image courtesy of Pittsburgh Regional Transit

The construction of the bus lane will shut down one lane in each direction along those roads, likely forcing more traffic through Greenfield. One lane of Forbes Avenue, from Duquesne University all the way to the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, is being converted to the bus rapid transit system.

During an online meeting on Jan. 7, Denise Ott, PRT’s director of capital programs, laid out the timeline for converting a normal traffic lane into a bus lane. She said while the bus lane on Forbes is being developed, the contraflow bus lane on Fifth will remain open for buses that are heading east.

Ms. Ott said the work on the eastbound bus lane in both Uptown and Oakland is starting this month.

Once the work on Forbes is completed, which is estimated to be late this year, all eastbound buses will move over to Forbes and work will begin to convert the far right lane on Fifth in Oakland for buses heading back Downtown.

The new bus lane will also have 18 new stations. Ms. Ott said they will be open for people to walk through, which means they will not have the end protections from the wind and rain, though they will have backs and awnings.

The stations at Schenley Plaza, which will be across Forbes Avenue from a dedicated bike lane, will also have a bike lane running behind it so bus riders will have to cross a bike lane to get to Schenley Plaza or the Carnegie Library.

The plan calls for the bus stations to have lighting, closed-circuit television cameras that will be connected to the PRT’s police station, and emergency telephones that will also connect to transit police. In addition to the safety features, they will have fare vending machines and screens that display real-time bus arrival information.

Steven Auterman, a senior project manager for Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure said the railing all along Fifth Avenue that keeps pedestrians from stepping into traffic will be removed when all of the traffic is heading Downtown.

In Oakland, Mr. Auterman said that some street parking will be removed from Fifth Avenue in certain areas and replaced in others. But on Forbes Avenue, street parking will be removed between Craft Avenue and Halket Place, across from Magee Womens Hospital and at Schenley Plaza.

The Downtown-to-Oakland portion of the University Line is expected to be completed at the end of 2027. While the project was originally planned to go into Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Highland Park and to surrounding communities, Ms. Ott said the Squirrel Hill branch and the branch to McKeesport have only been partially funded and the Highland Park Branch through Shadyside is not funded.

The road work will separate the bus lanes along three miles of Forbes Avenue outbound and three miles back into Downtown on Fifth Avenue.

Along that route, PRT will install two miles of protected bike lanes, new sidewalks with curb ramps that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, plus new street trees and lighting.

The project calls for 39 new traffic signals that will change to green as buses approach. Those signals will also have accessible push buttons and pedestrian signals that count down how much time people have to cross the street.

Ann Belser is the owner of Print, the community newspaper covering Pittsburgh’s East End. This story is reprinted with permission through the Pittsburgh Community Newspaper Network.

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