Pittsburgh to study new commuter rail line (York, McKeesport: lease, homes)

[pman]

Peduto wants city to study possible service to Hazelwood, Oakland and Lawrenceville

Tomorrow, Mr. Peduto plans to introduce legislation to spend $9,000 to study turning a freight line that runs from Hazelwood through Oakland to Lawrenceville into an artery for people. The study would lead to a proposal, submitted to U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-forest Hills, in the spring, for federal funding for the project.
"What this option would provide is a relief from the critical need of space based on the expanding industries of the education and medical community, and also the opportunity to revitalize city neighborhoods through transit-oriented development," Mr. Peduto said on Friday. "Areas of the city that have seen no growth or limited growth could begin to see the rewards of a new economy."
That new economy, he said, is causing Oakland to bulge at the seams. A study drafted within the Allegheny Conference on Community Development in 2006 predicted a need for 3 million square feet of buildings in Oakland, and room for just 1 million square feet.

[RockLobster]

Long overdue in my boooks is light rail connecting downtown with the urban eastern sections from uptown-okaland-shady-regent sq-monroeville, etc.. And then look to the northern tier via Cranberry.

[lifepgh2op]

Originally Posted by RockLobster

Long overdue in my boooks is light rail connecting downtown with the urban eastern sections from uptown-okaland-shady-regent sq-monroeville, etc.. And then look to the northern tier via Cranberry.

Agreed about connecting the East End (would have been much better than the North Shore).

I think they should look at the Airport/Parkway West corridor after the East End. Too much congestion on those routes. Commuters from Cranberry have an easier drive...they can wait 100 more years!

[RockLobster]

I would say that present and future growth areas should play into the lay out of this wishful transit option. Uptown-Oakland and the East End spine are with a doubt the prime high growth area in the city as the university-research complex continues to expand.
The airport area has slowed as a growth area although with all the land available near Pitt international, growth will take place in the future. Cranberry and southern Butler County are continuing to grow and with large scale employment development such as Westinhouse Nuclear, growth rates should hold or continue for this large area. Also this northern Pittsburgh area continues to lure more and more people and shopping dollars from the Northeast Ohio market. For a suburban region that has a large concentration of people that would be one of prime expansion area for transit.

[Geeo]

I'm afraid this proposal is going to go the way of all the other proposals: into the trash heap eventually. While it would be nice, I doubt that the railroad would just turn over their line to anyone. Is it an active freight line? If so, then this will never fly. How many people really need to go between the Tech Center and Lawrenceville every hour? There are no connections to any other transit and no transfer to the T. In order for something like this to fly, you need a certain number of people and a certain population density. And who will pay for it?

[Copanut]

Back in the Dark Ages, the 60's, there was a train that ran from McKeesport to Downtown daily. No doubt not enough politicians were paid off and it ended. The rails are there, why not use them?

[Blackbeauty212]

IMO The T needs to be extended to these areas in this order -

- Fifth Ave Line from Downtown clear out to Penn Ave, making a right up Penn continuing to the Wilkinsburg EBA...Making Wilkinsburg a Major transfer hub to Local buses, EBA, and the T.

- Change the HOV (Parkway North) to Rail lines.....Convert the Ross Park n Ride into a transit Hub, having North Hills Local and Express buses terminating for a transfer to the North Hills T; which would then run Non - Stop to Downtown with the exception of maybe one stop on the North Side for AGH, Alleg Center, and North Shore Workers.

- A Penn Ave line - From Downtown - Serving the Strip, L'ville, Childerens Hosp, Friendship and E Liberty....Either terminating in Wilkinsburg @ the Hub or send out as far as M'ville Mall creating a transit hub in Monroeville.

- South side/Carson street line - From the exsisting T line downtown heading thru the S. side, out to Homestead and possibly Mckessport......Express service possbily thru Hays.

- Service to the Airport.


If Pittsburgh and Port Authority would have these lines in place watch the city explode with growth.....

[Geeo]

The PATrain ran until the late 80s between downtown Pittsburgh and the Mon Valley with stops in Braddock, McKeesport and Port Vue/Liberty. It was a shared agreement with the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., so PAT had to lease all the equipment and use labor from the B&O. I think it cost four times what the fare was to run the train, so in essence, they lost more money when more people rode. They finally had to pull the plug when the losses got unsustainable. The tracks are no longer there (at least coming into downtown Pittsburgh) - it is now a walking and jogging trail to Oakland between the inbound and outbound sections of the Parkway East.

We also won't be seeing any major capital projects for quite a while, unless something like this is included in President Obama's plans for infrastructure improvement. The T, busways and other capital projects used to be funded with 80% federal money, 16% state money, and 4% county money. Those days are long gone and now local governments have to pay a much larger share of the construction costs, which is something that few can do unless they can raise the money locally.

[RockLobster]

I was going to bring this question to the round table. Obama has certainly made it clear that his so called 'stimulus package' will include funding at various levels for public water works, roads, bridges, recreactional development, power development, communications and a host of other things.

One major area I have not heard included or even discussed has been that of Mass Transit. If your looking to include mass numbers of people in construction, design and development of large scale public projects, would not mass transit fit that role?

Would not a public dollar helping to finance mass transit go further then a public dollar going towards a large scale swimming complex being slated for Miami-Dade, or a skate park for Hartford?

The Public Work's push under FDR has been a lasting center piece with many of those built out projects still serving as building blocks in this country. The Obama plan could act as the same thing, but I would hope mass tranist along with technological improvements would be included as a major part of the plan. So far I hear more about rec halls, swimming pools and zoo improvements under the plan then needed mass tranist talk.

[Geeo]

So far I have yet to hear of any specifics on the proposed public works plan. I certainly hope it includes public transport. We already have the basics (as do most cities), so it would be a question of committing the money to more routes it built. Pittsburgh is fortunate in that we already have one of the highest transit riderships per capita, it's a pretty dense city, and there are corridors to build lines. Personally, I would love to see some trolleys back on the street, but the reason they were discontinued so long ago was the maintenance, fighting between Pittsburgh Railways and the city on who paved what near the tracks (silly, I know), and the increasing traffic congestion from cars after World War II made it hard to keep a consistent schedule and reduced the advantage of speed, since they were stuck in the same traffic as everybody else.

I would also like to see more passenger trains between cities, especially in the northeast and midwest. Would be more efficient than flying to Chicago or New York and getting stuck in the air congestion. We can dream....