The Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway will remain closed between Pittsburgh’s Strip District and Oakland while the officials monitor the remaining part of a hillside that fell onto the busway early Friday.
Pittsburgh Regional Transit said crews removed tons of mud and trees from the busway by Friday afternoon after a water main break caused the hillside to collapse. In a news release, the agency said most of the debris has been cleared, but engineers will monitor the hillside and take test borings to determine whether it is stable, so it will remain closed “at least through early next week.”
The landside is causing the agency to detour buses on the busiest part of its system, which carries about 5,000 riders a day. The agency said riders should expect their commute to last an additional 15 to 20 minutes because of the detour.
The busway operates between Swissvale and Downtown Pittsburgh. PRT’s busiest route services the busway itself plus a loop through Downtown.
It also carries express buses from eastern suburbs such as Penn Hills, Oakmont and Monroeville that pick up passengers in outlying areas and then use the busway for a faster trip to the Golden Triangle.
For inbound buses, the detour will have buses exit at the Neville Street ramp and pass through North Oakland, Bloomfield and part of the Strip District before re-entering the busway at 26th Street. Outbound buses will exit at 26th Street and follow mostly the same detour back to Neville Street.
Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority is repairing the water main that broke at about 3 a.m. in Pittsburgh’s Polish Hill Neighborhood.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.