PITTSBURGH -- Traffic backed up significantly on Interstate 376/Parkway East throughout the day Saturday, and what's normally a three-lane highway in some spots eventually funneled down to one lane right the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.

PennDOT crews restricted the right outbound lane of the tunnel. Additionally, road crews closed the bridge that carries traffic through the Squirrel Hill interchange over the parkway. All lanes were clear again by Sunday afternoon.

Throughout Saturday afternoon, the outbound lanes were backed up for at least 4 miles as far as the Allegheny County Jail and into downtown Pittsburgh.

PennDOT issued a media warning last Thursday that delays might happen near the tunnel over the weekend.
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"Waterfront is a popular destination over the weekend. The Penguins game -- also a lot of traffic. So we did have a lot of traffic on Saturday afternoon," PennDOT District 11 executive Dan Cessna said.

"So, why do it then?" Team 4's Jim Parsons asked.

"It's important work that needs done," Cessna said.

WTAE Channel 4 Action News received angry e-mails from people who got stuck in the backup -- including one message that read, "Why were the lanes of the Parkway shut down today when no one was working?"

Cessna told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that crews were repairing concrete in the area, and drivers may not have seen any workers because they were waiting for the concrete that was poured Friday night to dry.

"It needed about 24 hours before traffic could be put back into that area," Cessna said.

If PennDOT was only pouring concrete in the shoulder, not in the driving lane, Team 4 wanted to know if they could reopen the driving lane to traffic at some point.

"That's a great question you asked," Cessna said. "That's also something we looked at this morning, to determine if we had to do additional work similar to that, can we -- at some point in the curing process -- shift traffic closer to it and not run the risk of a car traveling off the roadway and into fresh concrete?"

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but we have to do the work on the weekends when there is less traffic than the weekdays." - PennDOT Representative

"And what is the answer? Is this going to happen again?" Parsons asked.

"We're evaluating that right now," Cessna said.

WTAE Channel 4 Action News talked with plenty of people on Saturday who were stuck in the traffic.

"(We were) just sitting there, creeping forward. No one knows where they are going," said Kevin Klei, of Rochester, N.Y.

"It's crazy. I mean, the parkway is completely packed. Everybody is trying to rush. They're swerving out of lanes. It's crazy out there," said Thaddeus Evins, of Braddock.

"It's ridiculous but it happens a lot. It's not like this is something new. It's really not," said Jeff Saunders, of Regent Square.

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