Pittsburgh-Oakland Connector- the commuter rail line that should have been number 1 (Liberty: real estate, mover)

[Bizowner00]

A rail line between the two hubs of the region. Almost two separate downtown areas within one city. Downtown Pittsburgh with more than 240,000 daily people in transit and Oakland with better than 90,000 daily workers in transit. Add the thousands of students in daily movement and these numbers swell even more.

The Downtown-Oakland line certainly showing far more potential in terms of daily passenger load than the North shore Connector. A political prize given to the gambling hall, Continental Development and to a lesser degree the Steelers and Pirates. A rail line that could have had federal support had it been given the correct backing by our local political heads rather than some pipe dream line connecting far to few people - the North Shore line. Well better late than never! Finally the outgoing county ex, Dan Onorato is supporting a way to get the long over due line developed. And while in my humble mind, local leaders failed to get such a line built in the first place and supported a line to no where ( North Shore Connector ) Now we have a real opportunity to get a beneficial and much needed direct rail line in between the two largest business hub's.

Home - Pittsburgh-to-Oakland Connector & Oakland Circulator is the web site promoting the opportunity of private and public partnership to get the project going. Development rights along parts of the rail line will be a large prize for the private folks wishing to invest. There are countless examples of strong development having taken place over, under and alongside transit stations in many us cities.

Pittsburgh is a natural for such a system. The geographical short distance between the two hubs allows for a quick ride and from there spokes can be developed to such areas as East Liberty, Shady Side and the South Side.

Keep your eye on some of the private European transit firms. Such international firms have been looking for development opportunity in the United States. Pittsburgh could be a prize. Downtown and Oakland have both been growing in terms of office workers and residential folk along with development despite a long long standing loss of overall city population. The time for connecting the two with transit rail is LONG OVERDUE.

[mjost7]

Oakland might be better served by a kind of bus tunnel; it could be a sort of underground busway beneath Oakland. A friend of mine was working on this idea.

[greg42]

Here's the story from the front of the PG today: Oakland transit line explored

Interesting idea, but I'm not holding my breath.

[hempfield mania]

Why not support the hometown manufacturer of such systems? hint, hint....out by the Allegheny County airport.

[BrianTH]

I'd love to get my hands on the documents behind the registration wall. But in any event, I was just reading about how streetcars and such were originally economical for developers because they also got ancillary land right grants which became more valuable as a result of the streetcars they built. Which leads me to this bit from the website:

The RAAC through the Transportation Action Partnership has been evaluating the feasibility of delivering these projects through a Public Private Partnership (P3) arrangement. Under the P3 premise, the corridors have two primary components: delivery of transportation system improvements and conveyance of development rights to certain parcels along the corridors for ancillary real estate development.

So that sounds potentially feasible--I think there are potentially billions of dollars of real estate potential that could be unlocked by these projects, so it does seem like you should be able to tie that together and at least attract some private capital.

I also think if put together correctly, these projects could get substantial federal funding as well. So I'm glad to see this being moved along, hopefully in part in preparation for such grant requests.

[BrianTH]

So on this from the PG article:

The plan offers three possible corridors for a Downtown-Oakland link, which could be light-rail, an elevated people mover or rapid bus, which imitates a subway with its limited stops, dedicated lanes and stations. The corridors are along Centre Avenue, Second Avenue and Colwell Street/Fifth Avenue. The Colwell Street/Fifth Avenue corridor appears to offer the best development potential and is the most direct route, [Dennis Davin, county economic development director] said. . . .

The Colwell Street corridor, three miles long, begins near the new Downtown arena and ends in the heart of Oakland. The Centre Avenue corridor is longer and could require tunneling, making it more expensive, while the Second Avenue corridor is not as ripe for development, Mr. Davin said.

Colwell would be acceptable and does seem likely to offer the most bang for the buck. Centre, however, would be more transformative, and I'd at least like to see some sort of rapid transit up the Hill along Centre eventually, even if it doesn't connect through to Oakland.

But please, not Second Avenue. That's not where we need rapid transit and in my view would be the equivalent of opting for the North Shore Connector again (probably good for some big players, but a poor allocation of resources overall).

[gameguy56]

It should really connect up with the T

[BrianTH]

Here is a link with some maps and discussion:

Pittsburgh Hopes for Privately Funded Transit Connection to Oakland « The Transport Politic

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by gameguy56

It should really connect up with the T

That would certainly be ideal.

[Bizowner00]

The attractive element of 'development rights associated with transit rail' (TOD's) is nicely showcased by this web site that offers proof of such.

Transit oriented developments in the US (http://www.newurbannews.com/newurbancommunities/tods.html - broken link)

And the Metropolitan Council representing the Twin Cities region has done a great job in it's push for urban transit development. A truly progressive region with of course high praised city-multi county merging. Something Pittsburgh naturally runs from.

http://www.metrocouncil.org/planning...index_page.pdf