The Steelers and Pirates are taking their battle over traffic issues related to the North Shore casino to the state Supreme Court, even as the Carnegie Science Center reached a last-minute deal to avoid litigation.

Both teams filed appeals with the high court yesterday challenging the May 29 decision by the city planning commission to approve the master plan for the casino and owner Don Barden.

The casino threatened its own litigation, saying it will "seek any and all available remedies against the Steelers and the Pirates, including damages, sanctions and other appropriate lawful relief."

At the same time, the science center, which seemed to be an all-but-certain candidate to file an appeal, reached a tentative agreement with Mr. Barden's representatives yesterday afternoon during a marathon meeting with city officials.

As part of the deal, Mr. Barden agreed to widen a road into the science center property so school buses will continue to have access and to improve a parking lot across the street for the vehicles.

The plan calls for a traffic light to be installed at the casino entrance, pending final regulatory approval. The deal is tentative because Mr. Barden must sign off on contingency plans if the light isn't approved.

"We're confident and comfortable that we're moving in the right direction at this point," science center Director Joanna Haas said.

The Steelers and Pirates had pushed for a traffic study to be completed before the casino master plan was approved. Instead, the planning commission gave Mr. Barden until Sept. 30 to conduct a game day study and until after the casino opened to do a more comprehensive study of traffic impacts.

The Pirates, in their appeal, said that wasn't good enough. They said the studies should have been done before master plan approval so mitigating measures could be implemented.

To defer action is "tantamount to playing Russian roulette with the operational viability of the Pittsburgh Pirates and other major North Shore stakeholders like the Steelers and the Carnegie Science Center," the team said.

Bob Oltmanns, Mr. Barden's spokesman, assailed the two teams, saying they were using traffic concerns "as a diversion to what we believe their real concerns are, which is competition for entertainment on the North Shore."

Mr. Oltmanns said it was "frustrating" that they were demanding that the casino complete traffic studies before master plan approval when they didn't finish traffic management plans until shortly before their stadiums opened.

"All we have asked for is the same kind of treatment in the city planning process that our North Shore neighbors received in theirs," he said.

The teams have said they had the benefit of Three Rivers Stadium traffic patterns as a guide.

Despite the appeals, Pat Ford, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's director of economic and community development, said he found comfort in the fact the teams have been meeting to try to resolve the issues. He said he expects that to continue.

"I don't look at this as a line in the sand that can't be crossed over. I look at it as a private property owner protecting its interests," he said.

As for the science center, Mr. Oltmanns said the casino was "delighted" to get an agreement after weeks of tense negotiations and threats.

"It would have made life very unpleasant if we had to start off in Pittsburgh with litigation with our closest neighbor," he said.

The deal won't be finalized until there's final approval for the traffic light at the casino entrance, but neither side sees that as a problem. Mr. Barden also agreed to casino lighting that won't cause interference with the science center observatory, and landscaping and pedestrian safety improvements.

"We just hope we can move forward and be a good neighbor," Ms. Haas said.

Mr. Oltmanns said Mr. Barden intends to move forward with casino plans until "the courts instruct us to do otherwise." He is still awaiting a ruling from the Supreme Court on appeals filed by the losing bidders for the Pittsburgh casino license.