Pittsburgh is very easy to drive to. It's within five hours by car of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati. Pittsburgh is within 20 miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Driving to Pittsburgh from the East or South (via the PA turnpike): Get off the Turnpike at Monroeville and take 376 west to Pittsburgh. Follow 376 until you see a sign for Grant St. Get onto Grant St., stay on Grant for about six blocks until you reach Sixth Ave. Take a right on Sixth Ave. You'll see signs that say "Sixth Avenue closed," but you can disregard them. Beside the construction area, at the bend in front of the Ramada Inn, veer slightly left to follow Center Ave. The silver dome of the Civic Arena is directly in front of you, and the Marriott is to your right. Take a right at the corner of Center Avenue and Washington Place, and turn right into the Marriott driveway.
Driving to Pittsburgh from the North or West (via the 79 and/or the PA turnpike): Take 79 south to 579 south. Follow the signs to the Veteran's Bridge and the Civic Arena. Once you're into downtown Pittsburgh, you'll see the silver dome of the Civic Arena on your left and the USX Tower on your right. Follow the signs to the Civic Arena, but instead of turning left into the Civic Arena, stay on Washington Place. The Marriott is on the corner of Washington Plave and Center Ave. Take a right into the Marriott driveway in front of the lobby.
Driving to Pittsburgh from the Airport: From the Pittsburgh International Airport, follow the signs to Pittsburgh. You'll start on Route 60, but it runs into Route 279. Follow 279 to the Fort Pitt Tunnel. The Fort Pitt Tunnel is a 2-lane tunnel which immediately enters the right 2 lanes of the 4-lane Fort Pitt Bridge. Get in the second lane from the right on the bridge, following the "Blvd. of Allies, Liberty Ave., Civic Arena" sign. After about three blocks, take a right onto Sixth Avenue. After about another three blocks, you'll see signs that say "Sixth Avenue closed," but you can disregard them. Beside the construction area, at the bend in front of the Ramada Inn, veer slightly left to follow Center Ave. The silver dome of the Civic Arena is directly in front of you, and the Marriott is to your right. Take a right at the corner of Center Avenue and Washington Place, and turn right into the Marriott driveway.
You can park for a few minutes in front of the hotel when you're checking in. But don't plan to leave your car there for long because they will ticket and tow.
Note: If you want information about walking around Pittsburgh, select this link. Don't follow the driving instructions if you're walking into downtown because you'll add several extra blocks to your trip.
Pittsburgh is somewhat tricky to drive around. The downtown and Oakland areas are both loaded with one way streets. And then there are all those rivers. Pittsburgh has more bridges than any other city in the world except for Venice, and some of the roads, particularly MacArdle Road, are amazingly steep. However, the drivers almost courteous, and the city has placed a huge number of road and attraction signs all over the place so it's hard to stay lost for too long.
The hotel is on the border of the downtown and uptown areas of Pittsburgh, across from the Civic Arena. It is within a mile of Point State Park which marks the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela to form the Ohio River. When you drive from the parking garage, you can only do one thing - turn right onto Washington Place. To get back into the downtown Pittsburgh area (or Mt. Washington, Station Square or Strip District), take the very next right on Fifth Avenue and you'll be in downtown in about two blocks. To go to the South Side, Oakland, Shadyside or Squirrel Hill, stay straight on Washington Place for one more block and take a left on Forbes Avenue.
If you get lost driving in the Pittsburgh area: Pittsburghers are generally helpful, but it usually takes them 5-10 years to adjust to anything new. You may get blank stares if you ask about the Warhol Museum or the Mattress Factory.
If you get lost going to the hotel and you need need directions back to the Marriott, just say you're trying to get to a hotel that's across from the Civic Arena. The Pittsburgh Marriott City Center was formerly the Hyatt at Chatham Center. The better-known Marriotts in the Pittsburgh area are in the suburbs, so you're more likely to get to the right hotel if you mention the Civic Arena.
Sunday Morning Warning: Sunday, May 2 is the Pittsburgh Marathon. It starts in downtown at 9am and concludes in Point State Park during the late morning and early afternoon. If you sleep in on Sunday morning, this shouldn't be much of a problem for you. But if you have a morning plane to catch or if you need to drive anywhere before about 11am, be aware that there will be detours, traffic and lots of spectators. The detours will be described in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette on Sunday morning, so be sure to have the paper with you if you have to drive.
Places to avoid Sunday morning include Shadyside, Bloomfield and the South Side. The parking situations are always bad there, and are monumentally bad on Marathon Sunday. Getting to the airport after about 10am shouldn't be a problem, but be aware that the Marathon starts from Grant St, which is the most direct route back to the Airport and the parkways.
Driving to the Airport from Pittsburgh (Route 279): Take the rights onto Washington Place and Fifth Avenue. Take a left onto Grant St. In about five blocks, you'll see signs for Monroeville (376) and the Parkway West/Airport (279). The 279 exit is a right fork about a half block after the 376 exit. Follow the signs carefully here - if you take the hard right, you won't wind up on 279. Stay on 279 across the bridge and through the tunnel. In about 15 miles, you'll see a sign for the Airport/Route 60. Follow the signs to the airport. Both the airport departure area and the rental car retun areas are very well-signed.
Getting to the Parkway East (Route 376) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike: Take the rights onto Washington Place and Fifth Avenue. Take a left onto Grant St. In about five blocks, you'll see signs for Monroeville (376). The Monroeville exit is the first right. Take 376 East about 20 miles to Monroeville and get off at the Turnpike exit.
Getting to 79 North/Ohio Turnpike: Take the rights onto Washington Place and Fifth Avenue. Take another right on Ross St. and, finally a right back onto Center. Instead of staying to your right (as if you were going back into the hotel), take a left. You'll see signs for the Veteran's Bridge. Take the Veteran's Bridge (579) across the river and, in about ten miles, you'll merge with 79. Route 79 merges with the Pennsylvania Turnpike northwest of the city, and continues northward to Route 80 and Erie.
The hotel is attached to the Chatham Center garage, and the hotel rents space from the garage. As a result, parking prices were not negotiable during the Nebula Awards™ weekend contract talks. (Pittsburgh is generally an inexpensive city. We suspect the management of the Chatham Center garage really thinks they're in Boston or Chicago.)
The hotel's valet parking service is $20 a day. If you are using your car frequently, it's probably cheaper than parking your car yourself in the Chatham Center garage since that does include in-out privileges.
For slightly cheaper and very convenient parking, you can park your car yourself the Chatham Center garage and carefully bypass the valet parking. If you leave the car in the garage for 24 hours, it will cost you $12.75 a day ($3.50 for the first hour). If you arrive at the hotel with a car before Friday afternoon, that's about as cheap as you can get; most downtown lots charge about $11 a day during the week.
Pittsburgh parking garages become very cheap on the weekend. Beginning Friday at 5pm, you'll pay between $3 and $6 for 24 hours of parking anywhere except for the Chatham Center garage.
If you don't mind walking about five blocks, park in the Mellon Sq. garage beginning Friday at 5pm. It's $3 for 24 hours on the weekend. To get to the Mellon Sq. garage, turn right on Washington Place and right again on Fifth Avenue. When you get to Grant St. (in about two blocks), take a right, but get in the left lane of Grant St. Take a left on Sixth in a block. Travel 1.5 blocks down Sixth, and take a left into the Mellon Sq. garage. It's immediately past the Westin-William Penn Hotel and is under Mellon Park.
To walk back to the hotel, go to the Sixth Avenue side of the garage, take a right and walk about five short blocks up to the Marriott. Note that once you take the bridge over the highway, there's a pedestrian walkway to the Marriott that cuts over a block from your walk.
Return to the Nebula Awards™ weekend home page.