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Drivers in Pittsburgh left frustrated and delayed due to water main break near Parkway East

Drivers left frustrated due to Parkway East closure
Drivers left frustrated due to Parkway East closure 01:59

EDGEWOOD, Pa. (KDKA) - There was plenty of trouble for drivers going towards Pittsburgh this morning.

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Cars were backed up for miles on the Parkway East as many people tried to head into the Squirrel Hill Tunnel for work.

It was not a good morning if you had somewhere to be.

"It's been frustrating," Debi Hagelin said. "We came from Cumberland, Maryland – and I've already missed my first appointment."

Hagelin said that the trip usually takes around two hours.

"How long has it taken so far?" I asked him. 

"Almost three and a half to four hours," Hagelin said.

The cars were snail-like on the Parkway East Thursday morning.

"Have you tried to use any backroads or anything?" I asked another driver. 

"Yes, I have – and they're doing the same things," the driver, who only wanted us to use her first name, Liz, said.

Some of the side roads were not drivers' best friends today either. People were frustrated!

"One lady flicked me off because I was like passing her," driver Michelle Craighead said. "So – I just like – pulled up on the side of her like, 'good morning.'"

Of course, some in snarled traffic had no idea why they were.

"I guess it's about to get real frustrating now that you're showing me," driver Kiya Hoots said as KDKA-TV told her what was going on Thursday.

"I would've gone a completely different way if I would've known that," Kimmy Ferry of Braddock said.

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The inbound lanes of the Parkway East have been reduced to one lane outside the Squirrel Hill Tunnel because of a water main break. KDKA Drone Team / Photojournalist Brian Smithmyer

And some just decided to go all the way home.

"I might just work from home," Hoots said.

"You're saying the Parkway East defeated you today?" I asked Shannon Lauffer of North Huntington Twp.

"Yes – I am ready to cry," Lauffer said. "Yeah – it was rough."

Yes, 376 was "rough" today. The main roads and the back roads were hard.

"We're not used to it where we live," Hagelin said.

After a frustrating morning for many drivers, now, they'll get some relief as just before noon, state police informed KDKA-TV that the road has been fully reopened. 

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