Roberto Clemente Bridge Now Closed Until December 2023

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Roberto Clemente Bridge closed on Monday morning for a nearly two-year-long rehabilitation project.

The Sixth Street Bridge typically sees about 8,000 vehicles a day, but it closed after 6 a.m. Monday and construction crews started working right away. It is expected to remain closed until December 2023.

Some Pittsburgh residents were not expecting to see signs reading "Bridge Closed" in front of the Roberto Clemente Bridge on Monday morning.

"I was just about to run across the Clemente bridge, and I didn't know that it was closed today," said Emma Kieran, a runner from Pittsburgh's North Side.

The rusty bridge will be getting repaired for at least 22 months. The closure is already impacting people who typically drive, bike, walk, and run across it. Kieran said she's disappointed she must change her usual running route.

"We live right in the War Streets and so we use it probably three times a week, running, walking the dogs, so of course we have other bridges to use but this will be, this is a bummer," Kieran said.

A woman named Tracie Jayne said she won't walk to work anymore because of the detours.

"I mean I walk back and forth, this is my commute, I walk across the bridge every day, twice a day, so I am not looking forward to the construction because now I lost my morning walk, I have to drive now," said Jayne, who lives in downtown Pittsburgh.

Daniel Gehr said he enjoys riding his bike on the Clemente Bridge, but added that the closure won't affect him too much.

"I bike the same route for three years so it's a good reason to take another street," Gehr said.

Allegheny County Public Works officials said Monday that the early work that's happening now is the mobilization stage; workers are putting material and equipment in the correct spots.

They will eventually replace the deck, paint the superstructure, and perform structural repairs. Utility work will be done as well as part of the $34.4 million project.

Commuters are crossing their fingers and hoping the project will finish early.

"No, not two years," Jaynes lamented. "This is messing up my downtown vibe."

As the construction crew is getting everything where its needs to be this week, Duquesne Light will be coming out to start utility work.

The bridge was inspected last year and was given a fair rating, but the rehab project has been in the works long before that. It's all part of the long-planned rehab project of the city's Sister Bridges. Also known as the 6th Street Bridge, the Clemente Bridge was last inspected in 2021, earning a 5 rating that deemed the bridge to be in fair condition.

Outbound vehicle traffic will be detoured using Fort Duquesne Boulevard, the Andy Warhol Bridge, Sandusky Street, East Lacock Street and Federal Street.

Inbound vehicle traffic will be detoured using East General Robinson Street, Sandusky Street, the Andy Warhol Bridge and Fort Duquesne Boulevard.

With the start of baseball season scheduled for late March, Allegheny County Public Works Director Stephen Shanley said his team will work with the Pirates throughout the project as they try to minimize traffic issues for fans attending games at PNC Park, just west of the bridge on the North Shore.