Road closures in downtown Pittsburgh and the North Shore were set to take effect Tuesday evening as the biggest phase of traffic restrictions around the NFL Draft went into place. The closures primarily affected ramps to the Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt bridges, including the southbound I-279 ramp to the North Shore at Exit 1B and the northbound I-279 upper deck ramp to the North Shore at Reedsdale Street Exit 1B.
The restrictions are meant to limit access to the Fort Duquesne Bridge, which runs directly by the main stage for the NFL Draft outside Acrisure Stadium. Brian Schmidt said the bridge is not closed for the entire event, but police will be stationed on it to keep traffic moving and prevent cars from stopping on the span. He compared the setup to the kind of perimeter used on Fourth of July, with traffic kept flowing throughout the event.
Schmidt urged visitors to plan ahead and give themselves extra time to move through the city as the draft begins. PennDOT and the NFL also provided tools and maps to help drivers navigate the changes, but the advice from people heading in was more blunt: use something other than a car if you can.
“I have my car. So it's like, don't leave, don't use your car, use public transportation if you're going to, because of all the road closures and then all the people coming in,” said McKenna Cinotte. Philip Russo said he planned to take the T or the bus on Saturday because he did not want to drive, adding that the city looked great and the event should be a lot of fun.
The draft has already turned the North Shore and downtown into a controlled traffic zone, with the heaviest restrictions focused on bridge ramps and nearby approaches. That makes the next few days less about whether people can get to the event than whether they can get there without getting trapped in the wrong lane, on the wrong ramp, or on the wrong side of the bridge.
