Pittsburgh Regional Transit plans to close Mount Washington Transit Tunnel for five-month rehab next spring

Pittsburgh Regional Transit still has five weeks to go installing new tracks on a section of the Red Line on the light rail system, but the agency already is making plans for the closure of the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel early next year.

The authority’s board awarded a $16.1 million contract Friday to Mascaro Construction Co. for a project that will close the tunnel for five months beginning March 1. The work will include replacing the concrete deck and embedding new tracks in it, as well as replacing the electrical catenary wire and support components and repairing the tunnel lining.

Chief Engineer Greg O’Hare told the agency’s Performance Oversight Committee earlier this month that the tunnel work will cause the light rail system to be closed between South Hills Junction and Station Square. As a result, trains that use the tunnel will be rerouted to the normally dormant Allentown Line and enter Downtown Pittsburgh via the Panhandle Bridge without stopping at Station Square.

Buses that use the tunnel also will be rerouted but will still use Smithfield Street Bridge to enter Downtown.

The change for trains will add seven or eight minutes to the normal trip from the South Hills, said Amy Silbermann, the agency’s chief development officer.

The agency plans to spend the rest of the year “blitzing” light rail riders with information about the tunnel closure, said Jim Ritchie, the agency’s chief communications officer. That will include having representatives ride trains to pass out flyers about the change.

“We’ll take a lot of time over the rest of the year to get ready for this,” Ritchie said.

The tunnel work is part of a series of light rail projects scheduled over the next four years at an estimated cost of $150 million. Currently, the Red Line is closed between Overbrook Junction and South Hills Junction for track replacement and other projects.

The most expensive project will be the rehabilitation of the Panhandle Bridge that carries light rail trains across the Monongahela River into Downtown Pittsburgh. That project is expected to take about two years and cost about $68 million, but most of the work can be done without closing the bridge.