Significant work is set to begin next week on traffic-disrupting upgrades to Forbes Avenue from Uptown to Squirrel Hill.
The Forbes Avenue Betterment project, in the works for about eight years, will see the thoroughfare repaved, repainted and reconfigured to add bike lanes.
The work is scheduled to start Thursday and continue into October. Crews will be out on certain weekdays, weeknights and weekends, resulting in traffic restrictions from lane closures to detours.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is heading up the project with funds coming from city, state and federal sources, and the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Gulisek Construction and Lindy Paving were the contractors selected for the work.
The project extends through 18 intersections from Brady Street near the Birmingham Bridge to Margaret Morrison Street near CMU. It includes improvements to traffic signals, making curb ramps comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, pedestrian and bicycle improvements and milling and paving. PennDOT officials said there would be no major changes to parking on Forbes once the work is done.
Smart traffic signals will be added on the section of Forbes that cuts through CMU’s campus, from Schenley Drive to Margaret Morrison.
Bike lanes will be added from Bigelow Boulevard/Schenley Drive to Margaret Morrison. The lanes will be 5 feet wide and have a 2- to 4- foot buffer from travel lanes where space allows. There also will be new bicycle-safe inlet grates and updated signing and signals for bikes.
The four existing vehicle lanes on Forbes from South Craig Street to Margaret Morrison will be cut down to two with one in each direction, a center turn lane, and bike lanes in each direction.
John Myler, PennDOT assistant construction engineer, said that while the number of lanes will be reduced, the left turn lanes should improve traffic movement through the area.
With the way the traffic pattern is currently set up, “if somebody wants to make [a] left and I want to go straight through, I’m stuck waiting behind them,” Mr. Myler said. “They can’t turn because there’s oncoming traffic, so it’s already a bottleneck.
“By separating these movements, it’s actually going to help the traffic flow,” he said. “While they are in a single lane ... it keeps them consistently moving vs. having these stop and goes and getting hung up in traffic.”
The project has been split into three zones:
Zone 1 — Birmingham Bridge to Craft Avenue: Work is scheduled on weeknights and weekends between March 12 and April 30. It includes concrete patching; inlet, manhole and utility valve adjustments; and asphalt milling and paving.
Zone 2 — Craft Avenue to South Craig Street: Work is scheduled on weekdays, weeknights and weekends between April 2 and Sept. 21. It includes improving intersections for traffic signal infrastructure and adding curb ramps in compliance with the ADA; asphalt milling and paving; and inlet, manhole and utility valve adjustment.
Zone 3 — South Craig to Margaret Morrison: Work is scheduled for weekdays, weeknights and weekends between March 8 and Aug. 31. It includes improving intersections for traffic signal infrastructure and adding curb ramps; inlet, manhole and utility valve adjustments; and asphalt milling and paving.
Project wrap-up is scheduled on weekdays, weeknights and weekends from mid-September into October. It will include pavement markings, sign installation, and traffic signal testing.
The schedule is subject to change due to several factors, including weather. Work will not take place during events when traffic is heavy.
Andrew Goldstein: agoldstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1352.
First Published: March 2, 2018, 3:13 a.m.