Bus traffic on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway should return to near normal on Thursday.
Pittsburgh Regional Transit announced Wednesday it will fully reopen a section of the busway Thursday in Pittsburgh’s Polish Hill neighborhood, where traffic has been limited since a landslide two months ago.
The busy busway has used one alternating lane of traffic through the 272-foot restricted area since the hillside fell Oct. 11. The restriction added several minutes to trips through the area.
Crews removed tons of mud and debris and placed concrete barriers and blocks on the shoulder immediately after the slide to protect the busway from additional slides before reopening one lane. That lane had alternating traffic with a reduced speed limit of 25 miles an hour.
After the hillside remained stable following several days of rain and the freeze-thaw cycle, engineers approved opening the closed lane Thursday afternoon and increasing the speed limit to 35 miles an hour. The normal speed through the area is 55 miles an hour.
Barriers will remain on the busway’s shoulder to protect against future slides. Pittsburgh Water has repaired the broken water main that is believed to have caused the slide.
The busway has many of PRT’s busiest routes and carries about 12,000 passengers a day.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.