Major Detour For Heavily Traveled Pittsburgh Road Beginning

PITTSBURGH, PA — After a week-long postponement, a heavily traveled Pittsburgh road will close and access to one of the region's largest parks will be restricted for at least the next two months.

Beginning on Nov. 24, Commercial Street/Forward Avenue - used by many motorists as a shortcut between the Parkway East and the city - will close continuously between Whipple Street and Summerset Drive until at least the end of January.

Additionally, the Frick Park Nine Mile Run trail will close to all pedestrian and bicycle traffic between the Nine Mile Run parking lot on the Swisshelm Park side and the Commercial Street parking lot on the Squirrel Hill side.

The closures were supposed to begin on Nov. 17 but were delayed.

The closures are necessary for the $95 million replacement of the Parkway East Commercial Street Bridge replacement project on the eastern side of the Squirrel Hill tunnel before the Edgewood/Swissvale exit.

The new span is being constructed in a section of Frick Park. The project will utilize accelerated bridge construction techniques to laterally slide the new bridge onto the existing alignment of the parkway next year.

Crews continue to build the new Commercial Street Bridge structure, which PennDOT says requires the transportation of cranes, lifting of beams and relocating other heavy material over the roadway and trail. PennDOT says that for the safety of the public, roadway and trail must be clear of vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic as through the work zone while that occurs.

For the rest of the year, nine overnight full closures and detours of the parkway, a full weekend closure and detour lanes in each direction, and 35 extended weeknight single-lane restrictions on the parkway eastbound will occur.

Next year, motorists can expect a 25-day full closure and detour of I-376.

The overall project is anticipated to conclude in the summer of 2027.

For the closure beginning on Monday, PennDOT recommends the following detours.

From Commercial Street on the Swisshelm Park side:

• From Commercial Street, turn onto Whipple Street
• Turn left onto Monongahela Avenue
• Turn left onto S Braddock Avenue
• Turn left onto Forbes Avenue
• Turn left onto Beechwood Boulevard
• Continue to Forward Avenue
• End Detour

From Forward Avenue on the Squirrel Hill side

• Same detour in the opposite direction