Kennywood Park-goers: Beware of Interstate Closure

Don't forget the huge concert at Heinz Field.

Also there is that golf tournament next week. That is going to put a lot of extra traffic on Route 28 and the Turnpike so that longer detour via the Turnpike might be slower next weekend.

The other way to beat the mess is to go to KW on a weekday when I-376 will be open all of the way. Just avoid the rush hours which should be easy because the park opens around 11 AM.

I'm tentatively planning to go in about a month. If I go midweek, will this be a problem? (I got my driving directions from Mapquest, Baltimore to KW. )

If you are coming from Baltimore, you should be coming in from the east so you will get off I-376 before you get to the mess. The closures are on weekends only to prevent hardships for commuters so a midweek visit should be all right.

It is funny, 60k going to a concert at Heinz Field, 50k going to the US Open, the Three Rivers Arts Festival...they couldn't have picked a worse couple of weekends to do this.

I can hear the traffic helicoptors over my house now. Ha ha. My gf and I are going down to the diner/coffee shop on Braddock (part of the detour) to traffic watch. Good times.

Remember who you're dealing with. PennDot left all those people stranded during the blizzard last winter.

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PhantomTails said:
Don't forget the huge concert at Heinz Field.

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THAT turned out to be the big disaster. Traffic on 376 Eastbound leading to and through the detours never materialized -- people got the message and made other plans.

Traffic headed to the North Shore for the concert caused hours-long backups on 279 and 376 INbound.

Complete absolute clusterf***.

I'd wave to you on the way home from work, oh WAIT...I can't go that way, can't get on the Parkway :(

Last Saturday night left work at 11 PM and the parkway WAS open... but wait! One lane! And once you were on it, the PSP had all the exits at Squirrel Hill and Oakland blocked! So you were stuck in it. 45 grueling minutes hearing some punk's mega-bass system echoing in the Squirrel Hill tunnel. Can you say "migraine"?????

I have found travelling to/from work during this, that Millvale-40th St Bridge then across Penn Ave is a pretty good shortcut from North Hills to East End. *** Edited 6/10/2007 9:33:42 PM UTC by Chooch249***

It was good to see that that the traffic nightmare didn't materialize. I, like mostly everyone in the region, expected a traffic meltdown considering a lot of the detour goes through some busy neighborhoods. They also reopened the Parkway 14 hours ahead of schedule.

I was at CP over at the weekend, so I wasn't
around for any of this traffic mess back home :)

I have another alternative route to add for future consideration. This is kind of a sceninc route and may seem a bit out of the way, but it moves pretty fast and beats sitting in gridlocked traffic.

1. Take the PA Turnpike to Exit 67 - Route 30 (Utilize the Turnpike all you can - while traffic volumes can get heavy on it, it is never stop-and-go traffic unless they have a lane blocked due to construction - which there isn't any around the Pittsburgh exits)

2. Stay to the left at the tool booths to head towards US 30 WEST to Pittsburgh.

3. Merge onto Rt 30 and travel about 4 miles to the intersection with Lincoln Way and turn LEFT (the turn signal masts indicate this is Lincoln Way)

4. Follow Lincoln Way for about six miles. It is two lanes the entire length. Enjoy the sights and curves and hopefully you don't get behind a turtle..

5. You'll come to a stoplight at the bottom of a small hill that curves to the left. You want to continue straight (or basically a slight left) and you will be on Rt. 148

6. Get in the right lane and travel about half a mile and go through four sets of lights and you will see a sign for 837 - Duquesne. There is also a KW arrow by the green highway sign. Take this exit and you will head up a ramp and over the Duquesne - McKeesport Bridge

7. Follow the curve at the end of the bridge (Slow down, its a sharp turn) and pick a lane to get into. It is four lanes. You are now coming up the other side of Rt. 837 aka Kennywood Boulevard.

8. Go through four traffic lights and you will come to another set of lights and you will see a Sunoco station on your left and a 7-11 gas station on your right. At this point get in the left lane if you aren't already there.

9. At the next light (Hoffman Blvd), make a left and you are at KW!

I live in the vicinity of Exit 67 of the Turnpike and I would take this way most of the time when I worked at KW. All told, it is about 15 miles from the Turnpike exit to the park. There is another way where you can continue on Rt 30. It is four lanes and can be faster in the sense you can pass cars, but there a ton of traffic lights this way and you can unlucky with red lights. *** Edited 6/11/2007 5:30:08 AM UTC by beeman65***

Tomorrow is North Allegheny picnic day at KW. The main rout will be open and the weather looks perfect. My daughter is really close to the 46" limit. I am hoping she makes it as we will get on the Racer and Exterminator. If not, lots of Jackrabit rides like last year.

Another note on the US Open: I was down at the course yesterday for a practice round, and they are running shuttle buses from two satellite parking lots to the course. These shuttles get on the turnpike and travel about a mile, so if you come through around exit 48 watch out for increased school bus traffic.

I was driving on the Turnpike to get to work at Kennywood yesterday, and ran into more buses than I've ever seen in my life. The first set (coming from Hartwood Acres) merge onto the turnpike just past the Butler Valley exit, and the second set get on from the Harmarville exit. Traffic wasn't *too* bad, as I was traveling during an off-peak time, but I can imagine some slowdowns during rush hour(s), as school buses aren't exactly the fastest thing on the road. I'd suggest taking an alternate route if you're in a hurry.