[swaghauler]

Continuing EAST from the Oakland District of Pittsburgh, you would probably see a containment attempted at the Squirrel Hill Tunnels on Rt 376 East heading to Monroeville. Depending on how far into the Outbreak you are, this attempt WILL FAIL. This is because there are simply TOO MANY ways to bypass the Tunnels.

The Infected could travel through Hazelwood along the Monn River towards Swissvale and Braddock or even try to cross the Glenwood Bridge into Homestead/West Homestead. I can see an advancing defense moving along both Rt 855 and Rt 837 destroying the Glenwood Bridge, the Homestead High-Level Bridge, and the Rankin Bridge in order to keep the Infected from attacking the South side of the Monn. Those Infectected would continue to advance right into Monroeville along the Riverside. The defenders would most definitely want to secure the Allegheny County Airport astride Rts 855/837 in West Mifflin (above the Century III mall on Rt 51 South) as it is the only 8,000+ foot runway (for C141s) for resupply.
On the Northern side of the Triangle, the Infected would advance along Allegheny River Boulevard from Lawrenceville until they overran Wilkinsburg and then Monroeville (uphill from the Boulevard).

The major routes into Monroeville include:

Rt 376 East/West which runs from the PA Turnpike (Toll 76 E/W) all the way to Sharon PA in Mercer County. It is also the MAIN ARTERY in Beaver Valley (known as the Beaver Valley Expressway). The average visibility on this road is between 100 & 200 meters. The highway is limited access but is BELOW the surrounding terrain between the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and Sharon. This makes ambush much easier on this route. The majority of the route is open and becomes extremely rural with almost no population between Chippewa in Beaver County and New Castle in Lawrence County. There is a major intersection where I76 W heading into OH (and NOT a Toll Road here) crosses over Rt 376 West. In the Pittsburgh area, this road is a limited access highway with exits every couple of miles but NO STRUCTURES bordering the road itself. Buildings will be visible up on the hills above the road.

76 Toll which runs from the OH/PA border all the way to Philly. In this region of PA, the Turnpike is 6 lanes (3 each way) with noise barricades that would block the Infected from wandering onto the roadway. The Turnpike maintains this structure all the way to the New Stanton Interchange with I70 West and Rt 119 South. The average visibility is about 500m near Monroeville opening up to 1km around New Stanton. After New Stanton, the Turnpike drops its Third lane and median area. This tighter configuration drops visibility to 500m all the way to Johnstown PA. The two major choke points here would be New Stanton and Johnstown. I will discuss this in a later posting. The road itself is limited access and either terrain or barrier walls 8m high block the view of the surrounding terrain. There are a PennDOT maintenance facility and PA State Police Barracks located on the West-bound side of the Turnpike just north of the bridge over the Allegheny River and just short of the Allison Park exit (with an overpass ramp to access BOTH lanes). There is also a service plaza located up there on the Eastbound side.

The last MAJOR route out of Monroeville is the Rt 30 corridor South to Greensburg. This route is very tight in Monroeville (10m or less from buildings to the travel lanes) and visibility is low at around 100m. Once you're about 5 miles South of Monroeville, the distances open up to around 500m of visibility and most businesses have parking lots that open up contact distances from roadside structures to 25m on average. From a visibility standpoint, the ground is rolling hills and farmland or open lots where structures once stood. The area will feel "open" despite the number of structures. There may be many obstructions or abandoned vehicles on Rt 30 as this route is fairly well populated. Greensburg is the ONLY location of a major hospital (UPMC) in this area and is likely to be overrun by Infected. To make matters worse, Rt 30 "splits" with the Southeastern road and Northwestern road being separated by a block of buildings and having buildings lining both sides of each two-lane route. Visibility in town drops to 100m and contact range can be 10 meters or less from roadside buildings. The town will feel "tight or confining" as building often share a common wall or only have a walkway between them (limiting visibility from the road). Congestion is common here so there may be LOTS of abandoned vehicles on this stretch of 30. Route 30 heading Southeast will cross Rt 119 heading Northeast through Greensburg. This occurs at the city center and creates even more confusion/congestion. This is also the near the government buildings and may be restricted to authorized personnel only. The one other strategic location in Greensburg proper would be Arnold Palmer Airport just South of the city. It also possesses an 8,000 ft+ runway that can land heavy resupply craft.

South of Greensburg on Rt 30 is the Ligonier area. Rt 30 is STILL split in two divided two-lane roads (each going one way) but now that "split" is caused by the Loyalhanna Creek/River. It is steep and anywhere from 10m to 100m wide and runs right between the Northbound and Southbound lanes of Rt 30. The roadway here is narrow not heavily traveled and has steep WOODED hills on either side of the road and feels claustrophobic to new drivers. There are TWO locations of note in Ligonier. The first is Idlewild Park and Soak Zone which is totally fenced in and VERY RURAL. This makes it a good "Refugee Camp." The second location is Fort Ligonier itself. A fully restored fort and museum, Ft Ligonier could be made a "Refugee Camp" with very little work and it has MANY black powder weapons that are FULLY FUNCTIONAL.

The Characters could follow Rt 30 South to the town of Jennerstown and then turn South on Rt 985 to Somerset (and the Turnpike). This road is VERY rural and traffic is always light in the real world.