Pittsburgh's most heavily used tunnels will be closed this weekend -- meaning detours for thousands of drivers.
For a second straight weekend, only one lane of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel will be open overnight.
Add to that the closing of the outbound Fort Pitt Tunnel from 10 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Monday.
"They're going to be working on two lanes outside of the tunnel," PennDOT spokesman Dick Skrinjar said. "The only way to do it is to shut down the tunnel."
The posted detour is lengthy: Exit the Fort Pitt Bridge onto West Carson Street, to the West End Circle, to Route 51 south and back to the Parkway West.
Once on the parkway, detoured motorists will have to exit at the Parkway Center Mall because of the construction. The detour is to Greentree Road, to Mansfield Avenue and then back to the parkway.
Also, the Green Tree exit (4A) ramp will be closed through the weekend.
PennDOT is paying Lindy Paving Inc. $7.8 million to replace the Parkway West's prematurely crumbling asphalt road between the tunnel and Interstate 79.
The weekend parkway closings have created nightmare traffic jams through the summer, but the end is in sight.
"If the weather forecast is correct, this will be the last weekend of work," Skrinjar said.
Resurfacing work at the Squirrel Hill Tunnel will be done on the inbound lanes this weekend.
That means the tunnel, part of the Parkway East-Interstate 376, will close overnight Friday and Saturday, from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. One outbound lane will remain open.
PennDOT is paying Lane Construction Corp. $800,000 for the work. Lane resurfaced the outbound lanes last weekend. The contractor could work on a third weekend in late September or October.
