Traffic disruptions in Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Downtown Pittsburgh subway tunnel will shift Thursday as the agency begins the final phase of a project to replace the plinth, the concrete beam that supports light rail tracks.
For this phase, the tunnel will be closed from the Steel Plaza Station to the Gateway Station until early March. The agency had been working overnight on the project to replace the beams since 2022, but it decided to close the tunnel completely in January to finish the project as quickly as possible.
The system had been closed between First Avenue and Steel Plaza since the beginning of the year. Now that section is done, so work is shifting to the last area between Steel Plaza and Gateway.
As a result, light rail vehicles from the South Hills will travel past the Steel Plaza station to the normally inactive Penn Station at the end of the Martin King Jr. East Busway. From there, riders who want to continue can ride a shuttle bus with stops at Wood Street and Gateway stations, then board a shuttle train under the Allegheny River to the North Side and Allegheny stations.
The pattern is reversed for riders coming from the North Side. The shuttle trains and buses are expected to operate every 10 minutes.
The tunnel work is part of a series of projects on the light rail system this year. Crews already are working to grind the rails smooth between South Hills Village and Library Station and the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel is scheduled to close for eight months beginning Feb. 23 for a $26 million rehab project that includes replacing the tracks, the overhead wire that provides power for the trains, drainage and the tunnel liner.
Light rail trains and buses that also use the transit tunnel will be rerouted for that work.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.