I can’t remember if I’d been through as a passenger before, but today was my first day driving through the Wabash Tunnel so I looked it up on Wikipedia.
The first thing I noticed was how much shorter it is - felt like half the length of the Liberty Tunnels (and I’ve been through the tubes in the wee hours of COVID lockdown with 0 traffic). It’s also very modernized and just a nice drive. There was a handful of other cars at the same time as me (about 8:30am) so I understand why PRT has been looking to offload it somehow. It just makes me sad that there is this great alternative route through the mountain and most of us (I sure did) probably still think it has HOV restrictions.
So here’s my PSA to my fellow Pittsburghers. The Wabash Tunnel is open and a great alternative if you’re coming from the South Hills. We need to use it if we want to keep it. Let the sightseers use the tubes, go up 51 just a little more, and you’ll still be across the river in half the time as the Liberty Bridge a couple blocks away.