Help me get home!

September 17, 2009 10:53 AM

Is it insane to plan to fly into Pittsburgh the day before the G-20 Summit starts?

Currently I have travel plans that end with me flying into Pittsburgh Int'l Airport next Wednesday, supposedly the same day various world leaders are set to arrive. I can't find any specific information/warnings regarding actual road closures, etc. but do see warnings that these may occur and apparently public transportation will be significantly disrupted. I'll need to drive from the airport to Bloomfield.

I can't fly in earlier than Wednesday, but could possibly change my flight to Saturday or Sunday. Advice?

posted by Meg_Murry to travel & transportation around Pittsburgh, PA (3 answers total)

I work and live quite near the airport, and as long as you allow yourself plenty of time to get back to Bloomfield, you should be fine. As far as I know, roads aren't closing until 12am on Thursday, and the hard-and-fast closures will only be downtown. There will rolling closures on Wednesday as everyone flies in and on Saturday as they're leaving. [I've been doing a lot of looking around about this too; I'm supposed to go to a wedding in Braddock Hills on Saturday.]

I had to sit through a rolling closure on Tuesday and it wasn't as bad as it could have been; twenty minutes of sitting at an blocked-by-police intersection didn't make sense until Obama's motorcade drove by. That was, admittedly, pretty cool.
posted by alynnk at 11:14 AM on September 17, 2009

Here is your road closure info. There will likely be rolling roadblocks on the parkway east heading into town. I would seriously consider taking 60 to 79 to 51 to the west end bridge, then heading over to 28. It'll be longer, and getting onto 28 near downtown will likely suck, but you'll avoid most major closures.
posted by bfranklin at 11:16 AM on September 17, 2009

Bloomfield itself might be a problem. Protesters are gathering in Friendship Park. Between them & the media, it's a pretty hectic place.
posted by clarkstonian at 11:26 AM on September 17, 2009