Pittsburgh Light Up Night Closures, Parking and Detours

Friday marks the 52nd annual Light Up Night in the City of Pittsburgh. Although it's exciting to kick off the holiday festivities, there are a few parking restrictions and road closures to be aware of if you're headed Downtown from the South Hills.

Pittsburgh police recommend that visitors use parking garages and surface lots to ensure that they aren't parked in restricted areas. The police also want you to be safe while you're Downtown, so they remind visitors to remove valuables from view and to keep vehicles locked.

The following roads will be closed or restricted during Light Up Night:

• Smithfield Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues will be closed from 6 to 8:30 p.m. for the unveiling of the Macy's window at 6:15 p.m. After 6 p.m., all bus traffic will be detoured. Off-duty police officers will man the barricades at Smithfield and Fifth, at Smithfield and Forbes Avenue and at Smithfield and Fourth.
• Commonwealth Place will be closed from 4 to 10 p.m. for Santa Spectacular. Off-duty officers will man the barricades at Commonwealth and New Penn Avenue and at Commonwealth and Fort Duquesne Boulevard.
• Delray Street will be closed from 2 to 4:45 p.m., and setup on the Fifth Avenue Place sidewalk will occur.
• Liberty Avenue will be closed from 6 to 10 p.m. between Fifth and the turnaround at New Penn/New Liberty Avenue. An off-duty officer will man the road closure. A parade will go through this area at about 6:45 p.m.

The following streets will also be closed for various Light Up Night activities:

• Fourth Avenue between Wood and Stanwix streets from 4 to 10 p.m.
• All of Market Square, and Forbes Avenue at Wood, from 9 a.m. to midnight.
• Andy Warhol Bridge from 9 a.m. to midnight.
• Rachel Carson Bridge at around 10 p.m. for a fireworks show.
• Fort Duquesne Boulevard outbound between Stanwix and the Rachel Carson Bridge from 6 to 10 p.m.

More information can be found on the Downtown Pittsburgh Light Up Night website.

In addition, some Port Authority bus routes will operate on detours on Friday and Saturday.

Most Light Up Night detours will go into effect at 6 p.m. on Friday, but detours on some routes will begin even earlier. Approximately 50 bus routes will be detoured on Friday, with detours lasting through the night. About 40 routes will be detoured on Saturday between 4:30 and 7 p.m. for another parade.

Port Authority officials recommend that riders allow for extra time when traveling. Two-car trains, subway local service and articulated buses on key routes will be provided to accommodate crowds.

More information is available at the Port Authority website and by calling 412-442-2000 or 412-231-7007 (TTY).

Have any images from past years' Pittsburgh Light-Up Nights? Add them to this article's media gallery by clicking on the green "Upload Photos and Videos" button above!

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