Pittsburgh's Wabash Tunnel will permanently close Dec. 1 - USA Today

Pittsburgh Regional Transit will permanently close the Wabash Tunnel to traffic on Dec. 1 after its board voted to approve the closure.

The decision follows an evaluation of the tunnel's condition, safety and long-term viability, according to a community announcement. Keeping the tunnel open would require an estimated $43 million in rehabilitation.

PRT has said the tunnel now primarily carries private vehicles rather than public transit. About 1,500 vehicles use it each day, and PRT no longer provides scheduled transit service through the tunnel.

“The Wabash Tunnel has a long history in Pittsburgh, but today it primarily serves private vehicle traffic rather than public transit,” PRT CEO Katharine Kelleman said. “With an estimated $43 million needed to rehabilitate the tunnel, we have a responsibility to focus our limited resources on the infrastructure that is most critical to delivering safe, reliable transit service.”

Although the overall tunnel structure remains in fair condition, its lighting, ventilation and electrical systems are in poor to critical condition and have exceeded their useful life.

Significant rehabilitation would be required to keep the tunnel open and bring those systems up to current safety standards.

The closure will not affect the Wabash Park and Ride, which will remain open and continue serving customers.

The tunnel was built in 1903 as part of the Wabash-Pittsburg Terminal Railroad.

PRT, then the Port Authority of Allegheny County, acquired the tunnel in 1996 and converted it into a paved roadway facility using federal transit funding. It reopened in 2004 as a High Occupancy Vehicle facility and opened to all traffic in 2017.

PRT has continued to use the tunnel as a detour when regular bus service is disrupted by roadwork or special events despite no longer providing scheduled transit service through it.

The Federal Transit Administration earlier this year concurred with closing the tunnel and allowing PRT to retain $848,238 in remaining federal funding value associated with it. The amount represents the portion of the tunnel's original federally funded value that remains after depreciation.

PRT plans to apply that money toward a future eligible federally funded capital project.

This story was produced by reporter Gabby Sartori, [gsartori@usatodayco.com], with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the review, editing and publishing process. Learn more atcm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.