Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s long-stalled project to replace the noisy fans in the Mt. Lebanon Transit Tunnel will resume Monday evening.
As a result, weekday riders after 8 p.m. on the light rail system’s Red Line will have to board on the outbound platforms at Mt. Lebanon Station and Dormont Junction. The inbound platform will be available earlier in the day when crews aren’t working.
Residents near the Dormont end of the tunnel have been complaining about the noise of the current fans since late 2020, when the agency began running them 12 hours a day to reduce water in the tunnel that was causing corrosion on metal parts. The agency reduced their operation to four hours a day within a few months.
Under ordinary circumstances, the fans were only used to remove smoke from the tunnels in an emergency.
Wellington Power Corp. installed baffles in July 2021 to try to reduce the noise as part of a $5.1 million project to replace the fans.
When the replacement work began in January 2022, crews found additional corrosion on a conduit that carries electrical lines inside the tunnel, so that conduit also had to be replaced.
Supply chain problems have delayed the work until now.
Crews will work from 8 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. to replace the conduit on the inbound side of the tunnel. The new fans should be installed in the fall.
When the fans initially became an issue, they were so loud that it was difficult to have a normal conversation a half block away from the Dormont end of the tunnel. Dormont residents in nearby apartments made numerous complaints about the noise, but there were fewer complaints in Mt. Lebanon.
The 3,000-foot tunnel carries light rail vehicles between Dormont at Raleigh Avenue underneath McFarland and Washington roads to Shady Drive East in Mt. Lebanon.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.