Parkway East to get $142 million in federal funding to fix "bathtub" and other issues

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- President Joe Biden on Thursday touted more than $5 billion in infrastructure funding, with more than $142 million coming to Pittsburgh to fix what's known as "the bathtub."

The bathtub is the part of the Parkway East that runs alongside the Mon Wharf Downtown. It earned that nickname because it floods when the Mon River occasionally rises and spills over the concrete wall.

The federal grant will help pay for a new wall to keep the water out. It'll also help pay for new safety measures, including variable lanes and speed limits and a system to detect when someone's driving the wrong way, which officials say will help reduce the higher-than-average crashes on the Parkway East. 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited Pittsburgh on Friday to talk more about the funding. The Biden administration says the I-376 project is just one of 37 that's receiving money from the funding announced Thursday. 

"Because I don't have to tell you, flooding along this stretch of it 376 can go longer than 600 yards, six football fields end to end, causing detours, dangerous crashes and weaker infrastructure overall," Buttigieg said. 

"The bathtub is not just an obstacle to overcome, it's a warning sign. It's a warning sign that it is long past time to upgrade the entire corridor to be more resilient against the climate crisis," he added. 

Biden says the improvements are long overdue. 

"Our infrastructure used to be the best in the world, but over a period of time, we stopped investing in America, we stopped investing in ourselves, and now we're ranked the 13th best infrastructure in the world," Biden said. 

The announcement comes after the area secured $132 million to fix another problem: bridges. The bulk of that money will go toward repairing the Fort Duquesne Bridge, then the West End Bridge will get $47 million and $25 million will repair the McKees Rocks Bridge.