Yes, you may experience real stress with Parkway East traffic detours

By KELLEN STEPLER
TribLive

The upcoming 25-day closure of part of Parkway East to replace the Commercial Street Bridge might do more than cause the proverbial headache.

The reroutes and detours through the East End could trigger stress and “human coordination” challenges, said researchers from Carnegie Mellon University.

“Situations feel uncomfortable, unpredictable, overwhelming and generate a lot of negative emotions,” said J. David Creswell, a CMU professor of psychology who studies stress and resilience. “These are factors that play a key role inducing our stress biology.”

At 9 p.m. Friday, July 10, the Parkway East will close between the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and the Edgewood/Swissvale exit.

The closure is expected to last 25 days as crews replace the Commercial Street Bridge.

About 100,000 vehicles will be affected daily.

Sarah Fox, an assistant professor at CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, said the closure goes beyond transportation and infrastructure.

“A closure like this forces people to renegotiate plans with employers, schools, child care providers, family members and co-workers, often with very little notice,” Fox said. “People are simultaneously gathering information, comparing route options, communicating with others and making trade-offs about time, cost and reliability.”

Feeling the pressure

Traffic disruptions can trigger stress because they reduce the sense of predictability and control.

But what feels stressful isn’t just traffic. It’s also the cognitive effort of constantly adapting to change, Fox said. Much of daily life depends on “invisible coordination work.”

“Most of the time, people don’t notice how much effort goes into aligning schedules, making connections and keeping routines running smoothly,” Fox said. “During a major closure, that work suddenly becomes more visible because everyone has to do much more of it.”

Creswell said there are similarities between the upcoming Parkway East closure and January 2022 collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh’s East End. It took a year for a new bridge to be constructed and opened. In both cases, people have to rearrange schedules and commutes.

An important difference, Fox notes, is predictability.

“Even though (the Parkway East) closure will be disruptive, people have time to prepare mentally and logistically,” she said. “Predictability, even when the situation is inconvenient, helps reduce stress because people can make plans ahead of time instead of reacting in the moment.”

But even everyday commuting stress can have an impact on mental health. Creswell mentioned a Cornell University psychology study of rail commuters into Manhattan in New York City. The longer the trip, the greater the physiological and psychological stress passengers experienced.

“The length of people’s commute was directly related to stress hormones in their saliva and body, and a longer commute was associated with poor professional performance,” Creswell said. “You can imagine getting around the Squirrel Hill Tunnel area and its crowded streets. That could really ramp up stress levels.”

How to adapt

Pittsburgh Regional Transit officials are reminding the public of their system as a form of transportation during the closure. Stress from driving differs from that of other modes of transportation, Fox said, because driving combines navigation, vehicle control, hazard awareness and time pressure into a single task.

“If traffic conditions change unexpectedly, drivers often have to make rapid decisions while maintaining attention on the road,” she said. “That can make traffic feel especially stressful because there are relatively few opportunities to step back and reassess.”

On public transit, some of those responsibilities shift from the traveler to the transportation system and its operators. While riders may experience some uncertainty about delays, they often have more opportunities to check information, communicate with others or outright disengage for a few minutes while on the bus or the T.

Transit operators experience a different kind of stress, Fox said, because they carry responsibility not only for themselves but also for their passengers.

“They are navigating the same congestion as everyone else while also maintaining safe operations, staying on schedule when possible, and serving as a source of information and reassurance for passengers.”

Fox suggests coping by looking at the traffic as something to plan for rather than something to eliminate. That means allowing for more time to travel and checking traffic conditions before leaving.

“Adaptation is collective,” she said. “Transit riders, drivers, operators, dispatchers and traffic engineers are all responding to the same disruption.

“Being patient with those around you — including transit workers who are often fielding questions while navigating changing conditions — can reduce stress for everyone.”

While travel apps and navigation tools are helpful, they don’t remove uncertainty, Fox said.

“Sometimes the healthiest response is accepting that your arrival time may be less predictable for a few weeks rather than trying to optimize every minute,” she said.

Taking heed of Parkway East closure notifications before July 10 can pay dividends in planning efforts and lower stress levels, Creswell said.

“We deal with bridge and tunnel issues in Pittsburgh all the time,” he said. “These situations are ripe to create more stress in our life, and it gives us the opportunity to build predictability back in our schedules.”

He suggested deep breathing exercises and understanding that a few minutes of traffic is not worth getting upset over.

“The capacity to have your feelings is important,” he said. “It’s OK to feel angry and vent to some degree. What’s risky for our mental health and physical health is when we hold onto anger and can’t let it go.

“The key is to acknowledge and accept the emotional experience you’re having, use coping resources — do I need to let this rage ruin the rest of my day?”