City of Pittsburgh making traffic changes to Penn Avenue

PITTSBURGH — City crews kicked off efforts to upgrade several blocks of Penn Avenue through downtown Pittsburgh on Monday.

The Department of Mobility and Infrastructure is making several improvements to the stretch between 11th Street and Point State Park.

The upgrades include repaving from 9th Street to Stanwix Street, updating pavement markings, and improving bike lanes. Metal poles will be added around the bike lanes to prevent drivers from parking there.

“I love it, any more work to the bike lanes to improve ‘em, have at it,” one biker told us Monday.

Channel 11 observed several vehicles parked within bike lanes during the morning hours. The majority were worker vehicles being used for loading and unloading.

One business owner told us that he only parks there when the nearby loading zones are full. Finding empty spots can be hard to come by, he said.

According to the city, part of the $150,000 project is aimed at improving loading.

A statement from the city reads “loading changes will provide drivers, both of commercial deliveries and short-term pick-up/drop-off activities, better access to loading zones. In reallocating long-term parking and vehicle storage for more efficient loading areas, the city expects to see a decrease in illegally parked commercial vehicles loading out of the travel and bike lanes.”

Part of the changes include adding two Smart Loading Zones.

The Smart Loading Zones use technology to charge drivers by the minute for parking within the zone.

Channel 11 reached out to the city to clarify the exact locations where the Smart Loading Zones will be. We also reached out to see when the project is expected to be completed. We had not received an answer by the time this article was published.

The city says most of the work will be conducted during the overnight hours in order to prevent traffic disruptions. No detours are planned currently.

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