Commercial Street in Pittsburgh to close for Parkway East bridge construction

Commercial Street in Pittsburgh’s Swisshelm Park neighborhood will be closed for roughly two months during construction of a new Parkway East bridge that will span over the street.

The road will close to motorists on Nov. 17, and remain closed through Jan. 30, as part of the $95 million I-376 Commercial Street Bridge replacement project, according to PennDOT. The Parkway project is between the Edgewood/Swissvale (Exit 77) interchange in Swissvale and the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.

During construction, the section of trail between the Nine Mile Run Trail parking lot in Swisshelm Park and the Frick Park Commercial Street parking lot in Squirrel Hill will be closed.

Officials from Swisshelm Forward, a community organization designed to “foster” communication between Pittsburgh and Swisshelm Park residents, told TribLive on Tuesday that residents of Swisshelm Park are not excited about this closure.

“Closing Forward/Commercial cuts us off from the city as it is the only road from Swisshelm Park to the rest of the city that stays in Pittsburgh,” the organization said in a statement. “It also disrupts the many school bus routes that use Forward and Commercial.”

A PennDot spokeswomen provided the detoured route on Tuesday:

• Left onto Whipple Street
• Left onto Monongahela Avenue
• Left onto S Braddock Avenue
• Left onto Forbes Avenue
• Left onto Beechwood Boulevard
• Continue to Forward Avenue
• End Detour

“We are in for a frustrating two and a half months. We ask that people take the road closed signs posted on the parkway seriously and avoid the area,” Swisshelm Forward officials said.