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Excelius t1_ituxkp3 wrote

Reply to comment by itsjscott in Why is 28 the most dysfunctional road ever designed? by sudosudoku

It's far from the worst major road in the area, but it's users like to complain the loudest.

I used to live in an area where it was a roughly equal distance between heading to 28 or the Parkway to commute into the city, and after experimenting with both I usually ended up with 28 being much faster. And every major construction project has really only made things better.

My theory is that since Route 28 generally leads out to the least developed quarter of the county, the folks that use it just aren't used to experiencing any significant traffic, so they complain more.

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Confident_End_3848 t1_ituztjm wrote

I think when the really get 28 to a four lane highway all the way, the Alle-Kiski corridor could see growth. It is probably one of the few areas left with affordable land.

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JustHereForTheSaul t1_itxd0ya wrote

There is a theory among some urban planners called "induced demand" which states pretty much what you're saying -- if you have a highway that has heavy traffic, and you expand it, it'll be less congested in the short term, but eventually you're going to have just as much traffic as you did before. Because people will see the decrease in congestion and move to that corridor, thus increasing traffic.

I don't know enough to know how true it is, but it makes sense logically.

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BackmarkerLife t1_ity1znp wrote

That's what happened to Robinson / Moon. 20 years ago that area was desolate as hell. Then they build the shopping center where Wal-Mart is. I remember working 1 exit down 22 and several times a day they would blast dynamite and the building would shake.

I lived in Oakland and going to Robinson for work was a breeze. It was my secret place to see a movie because despite the distance it was fast to get to.

Now it's a 6-lane death trap with a bunch of drivers who think they're Warboys.

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kyach25 t1_itvd49f wrote

We love it there. 25 minutes from downtown, 2 acres, and a 4 bed house for below $300k. Con is the Trumpsters, but we have privacy from them so it’s great.

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lydriseabove t1_itwnuu0 wrote

I’ve been in Pittsburgh for 10 years, when I first moved here, it was under construction and a nightmare, but then it ran smoothly and beautifully for like 5 years until this current project started, but everyone just forgets those amazing years.

It seems a lot of people also don’t know the end game of the current project, which is to add an exit lane for Highland park bridge. Instead of 1 lane to stay on 28 and 1 lane to exit for Highland park bridge, there will be two lanes for 28 and a proper exit lane for the bridge.

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stoogemcduck t1_itw7url wrote

I’ve been driving it every day and the current construction still doesn’t clog things up as bad as going through any of the tunnels on a good day. 28 drivers are just sociopaths.

I will say it’s super annoying that they close off lanes seemingly at random, so every day you’re caught off guard by when you’re supposed to merge.

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st1ggyt0p t1_itycxlm wrote

>I will say it’s super annoying that they close off lanes seemingly at random, so every day you’re caught off guard by when you’re supposed to merge.

This is my biggest gripe. I commute daily from Morningside to Harmar and it is wild trying to figure out which lanes are closed on a daily basis.

The sections they have the semi-permanent barriers leading onto 28N from the bridge, and after the Delafield Ave on/off ramps are so tight, and the pavement is super uneven causing me to panic thinking I am going to crash into the sides.

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kyach25 t1_itvcvx0 wrote

I live in an similar area and can choose between 28, Parkway, Freeport Road, or Allegheny River Blvd. Each has their pro and con. 28 is always faster in a perfect scenario, but that’s sometimes now the case. When that occurs, the other roads all offer a great alternative, but 28 ain’t that bad. Plus if you don’t want to sit in traffic at HPB, just drive through OHara or Fox Chapel and enjoy the leaves.

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