Since the May 2024 public meeting, DOMI has continued working closely with the City’s Department of Public Safety to better understand emergency response needs for Fire and EMS. The team has also met with business stakeholders to review loading zone needs and concerns. Based on this input, the project design has been updated to improve emergency vehicle access and includes additional, larger on-street loading zones for business use.

DOMI also studied how the project may affect traffic, including under projected growth in vehicle trips. A conservative traffic “stress test” using a 4.4% annual trip increase—well above the 1% actually observed—confirmed that the corridor can support future traffic demand. While some congestion may still occur at peak times, the analysis shows that Penn Avenue will remain functional and reliable with the new design.

To further address existing traffic and safety issues, operational improvements are planned on nearby side streets, including 23rd and 24th Streets. These changes will reduce bottlenecks, improve safety, and allow vehicles to shift to alternative routes as needed.

Additional updates include revised on-street parking enforcement to improve turnover and keep traffic flowing. Bus stops will also be adjusted to allow for more efficient transit service through the corridor. Details can be found in the FAQ below.

Over the past year, the design has evolved to reflect stakeholder input and safety priorities. While coordination with Fire and EMS has extended the design timeline, the project remains on track for installation in 2025. Implementation will take only a few days and will be scheduled to avoid conflicts with other construction or special events in the Strip.

The Penn Avenue Rightsizing project will improve roadway safety between 22nd Street to 31st Street through:

• Reduced inbound lanes from 2 to 1.

• Maintaining parking on both sides of the street.

• Establishing new loading zones based on business needs, moving loading activities out of the travel lanes

• Inbound bike facility – a outbound bike facility is planned to be installed on Smallman Street in the future

The Strip District is an iconic business district, tourist destination, and growing residential community that connects Downtown Pittsburgh to Lawrenceville and neighborhoods East of Lawrenceville including Bloomfield, Garfield, Friendship, East Liberty, Shadyside and beyond.

This project will work in conjunction with other developments and planned improvements in the Strip District to continue the work laid out in the 2022 Strip District Mobility Plan.

The Strip District, with its popular retail, dining, and residential destinations, draws people from around the city and the region. With large numbers of pedestrians and cyclists traveling through the Strip District it is critical to ensure the safety of vulnerable road users.

Right sizing a roadway reconfiguration is meant to improve safety conditions, calm traffic, and provide better mobility access for all road users by reducing the number of travel lanes to better match the utility of the road.

Penn Avenue is currently a two lane, one-way road between 31st Street and 16th Street. Traffic volumes indicate a disconnect between the width of the road and the traffic volumes, leading to increased speeds, unsafe behaviors, and increased bike and pedestrian conflicts. By reducing the travel lanes from two to one, DOMI anticipates being able to reduce crashes by up to 45% while also improving the user experience for more vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists.

Given the dynamic environment in the core of the Strip District between 21st Street and 16th Street, this right sizing project will stop at 22nd Street.

In the five year period between 2018 and 2022, there were 115 accidents on Penn Ave. Of the 115 accidents, 45 resulted in injury and 13 involved pedestrians. To put this into the context of the other corridors in the Strip District, Penn Avenue has the highest ratio of crashes to traffic volume. It is the least travelled corridor, and second in crash volume.

16th Street to 22nd Street:

• Not included in rightsizing scope Long-term plans include signal improvements: https://engage.pittsburghpa.gov/traffic-signal-pro...

22nd Street to 31st Street:

• Reduce inbound lanes from 2 to 1.
• Maintain parking on both sides of the street.
• Establish new loading zones based on business needs, moving loading activities out of the travel lanes
• Inbound bike facility – a outbound bike facility is planned to be installed on Smallman Street in the future

Loading

• DOMI worked with stakeholders in the project corridor to better understand their loading needs. Individual meetings were held on-site at each stakeholder’s location to gather information and visualize the existing and future needs for business loading. This info was used to develop either individual loading diagrams or block by block loading schemes for each stakeholder/project segment. These diagrams will be shared with stakeholders to give them a chance to provide any additional feed back before final design is complete

Public Safety

• The DOMI project team met with representatives of Public Safety including Fire and EMS to understand the needs of public safety vehicles and ensure that the project will not infringe on emergency responder’s ability to reach people in need. These conversations are on going and are expected to be resolved in the final design.

Development/Growth

• The Strip District is one of Pittsburgh’s fastest-growing neighborhoods and plays a unique role in both the city and the regional transportation network. With a growing residential base, strong office presence, and role as a dining and retail destination, its needs differ from other neighborhoods.
• Even assuming a 4.4% annual increase in vehicle trips—far above the 1% growth rate currently observed—the proposed single-lane configuration can handle future demand, including peak weekday and weekend traffic. This does not mean the corridor will be free of traffic at all times. Like other dense urban areas, the Strip may experience brief congestion during busy periods. However, the analysis shows that recurring, significant congestion is unlikely to become a widespread or daily issue, even with the lane reduction.

Congestion Memo

Parking Enforcement

• Stakeholders in the corridor have expressed the need for greater enforcement of parking and loading regulations. Currently, paid parking on Penn Ave ends at 25th St, leading to a lack of enforcement between 25th and 31st Streets. To support additional parking enforcement, DOMI is coordinating with the Pittsburgh Parking Authority to implement paid parking in the Strip District. Legal parking spaces on Penn, Smallman, and numbered streets up to 31st will now require payment. This does not include loading zones, which are free to use and have maximum durations indicated on signage. Paid parking will be enforced Monday – Saturday, 8am-6pm and the hourly rate will be $3 / hour.

PRT Bus Stops

• DOMI and PRT will be consolidating bus stops through this section. The existing bus stops at Penn at 30th and Penn at 28th will be removed and replaced with a stop at Penn and 29th.

Changes to 23rd and 24th Street

• During DOMI’s congestion analysis, two pinch points were identified along Penn at 23rd and 24th. These narrow, bi-directional “yield streets” were causing congestion on Penn because vehicles cannot turn onto these cross-streets while other vehicles sit at the stop signs, approaching Penn. To mitigate this congestion and improve traffic flow on Penn, these two streets will be changed to one-way pairs. 23rd from Smallman to Liberty will be one-way towards Liberty, while 24th will be one-way towards Smallman.

Other Projects

• Penn Ave Signals – The Penn Ave Signals project is in design and is planned for construction in 2028. The scope is from 31st to 16th and includes traffic signal upgrades, and safety improvements focused on vulnerable road users. This project will build upon the quick-build updates from the Penn Rightsizing project with improved materials, and will prioritize pedestrian improvements in the Penn Ave “Core” from 21st to 16th.

• Liberty HSIP – Liberty Ave HSIP will go to construction in 2026. It includes removal of two travel lanes (one in each direction) and the addition of center left turn lanes. In 2024, DOMI engineers conducted multiple field views on Liberty during short-term lane reductions to better understand rerouting that may occur when Liberty has reduced lanes. They observed very little rerouting from Liberty to Penn, even during peak hour conditions. Traffic modelling for the Penn Rightsizing condition accounts for this potential rerouting due to Liberty HSIP, and still shows adequate capacity on all roads.

• Smallman Complete Street – DOMI has been awarded grants to address safety issues on Smallman Street. The project is still in preliminary planning but could be delivered as soon as 2026 or 2027.

The Strip District is prepared to see an unprecedented level of investment from the City in the next few years. These projects will all be coordinated to ensure that the timelines do not overlap significantly. DOMI’s goal is to improve the mobility network with as little disruption as possible to local businesses.