I see a perfect storm looming, though we may already be in it if Penn ave is an indicator. This weekend:
- 376 tunnel is closed, detouring lotsa people through the east end (and lotsa DIY detours).
- 28 is more congested than usual for more construction than usual (lotsa people detouring through Lawrenceville)
- Verona Rd between Frankstown and Sandy Creek is closed for some random reason (though part is open if you know the back roads off it).
- I think the 579/Vets bridge issue is not resolved still, but I'm not 100%
- Pedal pgh is closing Birmingham and (what looks like from the map but i may be wrong) Hot Metal bridge...
I'm super excited about the race. But in my quest to figure out how to get from home (east suburbs) to the volunteer meetup (REI), I'm finding all my favorite tricks won't work and I'm just going to have to get up at an obscene hour. And I KNOW about the closures ahead of time.
What I'm getting at, is there are going to be a lot more than even the new high usual number of late, hot, frustrated, detoured people in places they likely don't know AND don't want to be - in cars.
If you're riding to the ride, please be careful. Not like you all are normally off the hook doing crazy salmoning wheelies through redlights, but I feel compelled to nudge. It's the one nurturing instinct I have. Thank you for indulging me 
i know i'm pretty crazy for thinking this way, but i rather think these sorts of things just kind of work themselves out. maybe that wasn't tom vanderbilt's message in "traffic", but i knew from the start that the squirrel hill tunnel closings wouldn't hurt as much as it seemed they should. people who have to find ways, and other people just avoid things.
were there any truly dire traffic reports from last weekend?
Nothing dire, but I saw two cars on the Parkway's detour route that were salmoning on Forbes last weekend, late on Sunday night.
They turned left from Braddock onto Forbes heading west, and went left of the concrete barrier into one of the three turning lanes for eastbound traffic. The cop at the corner blew his whistle at them, and I guess then they noticed the turn lane arrows they were driving over were pointing back the way they came, and slowed down.
There wasn't any opposing traffic at that time of night, so they just continued along until the concrete barrier ended and then moved into the westbound lane.
Hoping the increased number of cyclists results in more careful drivers today.
^ exactly that. It's not that things won't work themselves out, but I think the likelihood of "crazy shit" is highly increased. Before the ride today a lady speeding late to work (at a gas station on the closed road!) blew through a barricade. Nobody was hurt, but the flying barricade damaged the officer's personal vehicle. Just crazy shit.
Granted, now people are starting to wake up and it's raining, so it's likely more interesting.
I didn't encounter any crazy people on the drive home, though. Well, none other than the random hoards of cyclists wandering the streets
