Pittsburgh Regional Transit will expand work areas in Downtown Pittsburgh beginning Monday for its $291 million University Line project.
The agency will start relocating water lines and sewers on Sixth Avenue between Wood Street and Liberty Avenue, adjacent to Wood Street Station, and begin installing electrical outlets for new traffic signals at various locations.
The work on Sixth Avenue, which is expected to last six to eight weeks, will close the two lanes of traffic on Sixth Avenue heading from Wood Street to Liberty Avenue. The single lane on Sixth Avenue from Liberty to Wood will remain open.
Contractor Independence Excavating Inc. also is working at two other areas on Sixth Avenue, at Grant Street and at Smithfield Street. Water and sewer lines are being moved so they won’t be underneath new bus stations that are being installed for the dedicated bus lanes that will connect Oakland and Downtown Pittsburgh.
A subcontractor also will begin work Monday to install connections for 35 future traffic signals and poles that will be installed over the next four months. The work will take three to five days in each location and will be done on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
In January, electrical work will occur at:
• Liberty Avenue at Seventh Street, adjacent to the 7-Eleven.
• Liberty Avenue at Seventh Street, across from the 7-Eleven.
• Liberty Avenue in front of Wood Street Station.
• Sixth Avenue at Grant Street, adjacent to Mellon Green.
Work began in September on the first contract for the project, which will install five stations Downtown on a loop that enters on Fifth Avenue to Liberty Avenue to Sixth Avenue and exits on Forbes Avenue. That work should finish in early 2025.
PRT is expected to issue the second contract for work in Uptown and Oakland in the next few months. The agency will begin using the system as segments are completed.
The University Line is a Bus Rapid Transit system designed to move buses through traffic more efficiently using dedicated lanes and priority at traffic signals.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.