Parkway East drivers are finally getting relief as the Commercial Street Bridge project nears a key milestone and Interstate 376 prepares to reopen ahead of schedule.
For more than two weeks, the full closure of Parkway East between Squirrel Hill and Edgewood/Swissvale has snarled traffic across the east suburbs. With all lanes of I‑376 shut down, thousands of commuters were forced onto neighborhood streets through Swissvale, Edgewood and Regent Square.
What are usually quick trips downtown or to Oakland turned into long detours, clogged intersections and rush hours that stretched well past their normal peaks. Businesses along the detour routes reported steady waves of frustrated drivers cutting through side streets just to avoid stand‑still backups.
The closure allowed crews to take down the aging Commercial Street Bridge and move a new structure into place over the highway. A time‑lapse video released by transportation officials compresses days of work into a few seconds, showing the old bridge gone, the new span appearing over the Parkway and crews racing to finish paving and lane markings underneath.
Now, the payoff is in sight. Parkway East is scheduled to reopen to traffic Monday evening, several days earlier than the original Aug. 3 target. Commercial Street itself under the new bridge will remain closed a bit longer while final work continues, but for the tens of thousands of drivers who rely on I‑376 every day, the early reopening marks the end of one of the summer’s biggest traffic headaches.
This article by Gabby Sartori was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Parkway East reopens early as Commercial Street Bridge work ends
