The Southwest Pennsylvania Commission will host an in-person and virtual federal Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Workshop on January 8 at the SPC Offices, Strip District Terminal Building, 21st and Smallman Streets in Pittsburgh from 10:00 a.m. to Noon.

This SPC Workshop is your chance to learn about reducing pollution and making a positive impact on our environment and will provide valuable insights and strategies for implementing climate pollution reduction projects.

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and organizations who are passionate about creating a sustainable future and learn more about $5 billion in federal grants available.

Click Here to register to attend in-person. Click Here to attend virtually.

Learn more about grants by visiting the SPC Climate Pollution Reduction Implementation Grants webpage. Questions should be directed to Cathy Tulley at ctulley@spcregion.org.

Visit the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission website and the SPC Water Resource Center webpage to learn more about other educational opportunities.

View the full story at paenvironmentdaily.blogspot.com

Rich Fitzgerald joined Tyler Friel during the WISR News at Noon. 

Outgoing Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has already announced starting next year he will become the Executive Director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

In his new role he will be overseeing economic development in the 10-county western Pennsylvania region.

With billions of dollars coming to the region for infrastructure, Fitzgerald wants to spend that money on more than just major highways.

“I don’t want to limit it to just highways, there are things we could do for places like Moraine State Park that could be dollars accessed through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the IRA, which are projects that deal with climate change and decarbonization,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald also talked about what his goal will be for the area in 10 years.

“For people when they grow up, I want people to say there are jobs here so that my kids can live there and I can see my grandkids,” Fitzgerald said.

View the full story and listen to the interview at butlerradio.com.

At this time last year, Cheryl Moon-Sirianni outlined a series of projects to improve the Parkway East, which hasn’t had a major overhaul in more than 30 years.

On Monday, the former district executive who now has a statewide job with the state Department of Transportation got several of those projects funded through a federal grant, plus additional money for a series of projects that will benefit bus riders who use the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway. 

A $142.3 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant for the Eastern Pittsburgh Multimodal Corridor Project will install signs for variable-speed traffic on the parkway, fix chronic flooding in the area known as “the bathtub” in Downtown Pittsburgh, and build hard shoulders for buses and a ramp from the parkway directly to the inbound Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.

The grant, announced by Pennsylvania’s U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and U.S. Rep. Summer Lee of Swissvale, all Democrats, is part of the Biden administration’s economic stimulus program. The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, which oversees federal transportation for a 10-county area, applied for the money on behalf of several agencies and governments, including PennDOT and Pittsburgh Regional Transit.

“Thanks to the infrastructure law, two of Allegheny County’s most heavily traveled roadways will become safer and easier to navigate,” Casey said in a news release. “The Parkway East and the MLK Busway allow people from Monroeville to Oakland — including many in historically marginalized communities — to travel Downtown and points throughout the region.”

The project that probably will affect the most people is the traffic management plan for the highway, which carries about 100,000 vehicles daily. PennDOT wants to install special equipment that can read traffic congestion and set variable speed limits on inbound traffic between Monroeville and the Squirrel Hill Tunnel to keep traffic moving at an even pace.

Traffic engineer Todd Kravitz has said previously that it is safer and quicker for motorists if traffic travels at an even speed rather than traveling at 55 miles an hour and then coming to a complete stop due to congestion. The $48.5 million system, which also includes equipment to identify and warn vehicles traveling in the wrong direction, could be ready for construction in the next year or two.

The bathtub is a low area of the inbound Parkway East adjacent to the Monongahela Wharf, a parking area and park that gets covered with water when the Monongahela River rises. PennDOT has been developing plans for several years to build a higher retaining wall along the edge of the highway in that area to reduce or eliminate the chance of flooding, which closes the roadway and forces traffic to wind through narrow, congested Downtown streets.

In January, Moon-Sirianni said building a higher wall will be tricky because holding back more water could create additional pressure on the highway itself and cause it to heave. That would create a more serious problem.

The grant allocates $39 million for that project, which Moon-Siriani had said could be ready for construction in 2026.

Additional road work will include improvements to arteries that feed traffic to the parkway to reduce congestion and improve response to incidents.

Fetterman called the grant “a game-changing investment.”

“This massive funding will help fix longstanding flooding concerns in the corridor, allow our region’s infrastructure to adapt to the climate crisis, and expand transit options across Allegheny County. Most of all, it will make sure people across our region can get where they need to go,” he said in the news release.

To serve transit riders, the grant will fund work to create hard shoulders that buses can use and build a ramp directly from the Parkway East to Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway near Edgewood Towne Center at the Edgewood/Swissvale border.

The hard shoulders and ramp will allow quicker trips for PRT buses by freeing them from rush-hour traffic congestion and eliminate slow trips on neighborhood streets that those buses use now to get to the busway.

“A better connection from [the Parkway East] to the busway could certainly benefit PRT,” spokesman Adam Brandolph said.

Among the agency’s goals in its NexTransit long-range plan two years ago were exclusive highway lanes for buses and extending the busway from Swissvale to East Pittsburgh.

The agency also would benefit from several other aspects of the grant. That includes additional sidewalks around bus stops in Monroeville to improve safety for bus riders along Business Route 22, plus slope stabilization to prevent landslides, paving and drainage work along the busway.

View the full story at unionprogress.com .

Western Pennsylvania’s eastern corridor is set to get a massive investment in two of its most important pieces of transportation infrastructure, the Parkway East and the East Busway.

The offices of U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) along with U.S. Representative Summer Lee (D-PA-14) and Chris DeLuzio (D-PA-17) announced $142.3 million in federal infrastructure funding dedicated to the Parkway East and East Busway.

The funding derives from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and was allocated by the federal Department of Transportation to make way for a long list of improvements and generate 2,500 jobs and add a total value of $254.9 million to the region’s economy, according to the announcement.

DJ Ryan, director of strategic initiatives and policy at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, the agency that oversees transportation investment in the region, boiled down the comprehensive impact of the investment in a prepared statement: “Once completed, the Eastern Pittsburgh Multimodal Corridor Project will directly benefit the lives of many individuals—streamlining travel routes, enhancing safety, and increasing access for those that live in our region’s eastern communities.”

The funding is expected to both help with needed upgrades to the physical infrastructure as well as implement a host of new modernization efforts to make transportation in the corridor safer, faster and smoother.

The announcement quotes from a 2019 study noted the Parkway East, so often slowed by the Squirrel Hill tunnel, was ranked as the fifth most congested highway in the United States.

The huge grant includes funding to rehabilitate 10 bridges as well as to build a new flood wall along the stretch of the Parkway East that runs near downtown that is nicknamed “the bathtub” due to its inability to keep out too much water during major rains.

The funding will also support implementing new technology to ease traffic from Monroeville to downtown.

According to a summary of the grant allocation by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, the strategy is to implement what it calls Active Arterial Management from the PennDOT Traffic Management Center at certain sections of the corridor.

For the busway, the funding allocation calls for adding a new inbound bus lane along the Parkway East from Churchill to a new busway off-ramp at Edgewood.

The SPC summary also references the investment in electric buses as well.

Funding is also expected to be used to stabilize hills prone to landslides, improve sidewalk safety and improve other bus infrastructure, with upgrades also in the works for South Braddock Avenue and the junction of Route 30, Lincoln Highway and Ardmore Boulevard near Wilkinsburg and Forest Hills.

Senator Casey called it a “generational investment” that he and his colleagues in the Pennsylvania delegation fought for so that ” two of Allegheny County’s most heavily-traveled roadways will become safer and easier to navigate.”

Fetterman, who was outspoken in his opposition to a major highway project in the Mon-Fayette Expressway when he was mayor of Braddock, expects the new funding will prove to be a “game-changing investment” that will help resolve flooding issues, expand transit options and “allow our region’s infrastructure to adapt to the climate crisis.”

Lee, whose district includes many of the communities along the Parkway East, highlighted the jobs to come from the projects funded and how it will “help to right the wrongs of disinvestment and disconnection in left behind communities.”

Matt Smith, chief growth officer at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, called the funding a “huge win for the Pittsburgh region” that he expects will “benefit the community and all who live and work in the region.”

View the full story at bizjournals.com.

Members of Western Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation just announced $142 million in federal grant money secured for a series of projects to improve both the Parkway East and the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.

“This is a tough commute coming in or out of town,” Congressman Chris Deluzio said. “I think this could have a big impact and improve our quality of life.”

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission applied for the grant funding, which will go to rehab 10 aging bridges along the Busway, add new technology to ease traffic congestion between Monroeville and downtown, and install a new flood wall to prevent flooding on a stretch of road known as “the Bathtub.”

Variable speed limits are among the tech planned to limit traffic along the busy roadway, which is one of the most congested in the country.

“The research seems to be that if you can spread that out, keep folks moving, that actually moves traffic more efficiently,” Deluzio said.

DJ Ryan, the SPC’s Director of Strategic Initiatives and Policy, said the project could reduce rear-end crashes on the Parkway East by 50%.

“So some of the projects are ready to go pretty much immediately, and we’re going to start to see shovels in the ground this year,” Ryan said. “Other things have to do a little more design and planning and might take a little longer than that, but I think that commuters are going to see changes almost right away.”

View the full story at wtae.com.

From businessman to county council president to county executive. After 12 years, Rich Fitzgerald is vacating his office. For over a decade, the Democrat has overseen the commonwealth’s second-most populous county. Next month, he leaves public office. Shannon Perrine sits down with Fitzgerald as he looks back on the past, present and future of the region.

View the full story at wtae.com.

Residents probably have heard of the greenhouse effect, but there’s a better analogy to explain climate change, Lindsay Byron said Thursday.

“Think of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses as a heat-trapping blanket,” said Byron, environmental group manager for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“As greenhouse gasses build up, they act like a blanket, trapping heat that would otherwise escape into space.

“This blanket effect is warming the planet’s atmosphere, disrupting the balance that keeps the climate stable.”

State environmental officials on Thursday held the last of five public engagement sessions, four in-person and one virtual, as it works to create a Priority Climate Action Plan, or PCAP, that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide and mitigate further effects of climate change.

With $3 million in federal grants already captured by the commonwealth, and an additional $4.6 billion up for grabs in spring, officials stressed the need for residents to submit their ideas soon in order for projects to be funded.

“We don’t want to leave anyone out if there’s a community that intends to apply for implementation grants for greenhouse gas reduction measures,” Byron said. “So we need to have those measures in the priority Climate Action Plan.

“We are targeting outreach toward communities and residents living near industrial operations, local governments and the industrial sector.”

About 80 people, including residents and community activists, as well as environmental and sustainability officials and organizations from across the state, participated.

‘Practical, innovative path’

The state, as well as three of the commonwealth’s largest metropolitan areas, this year got an infusion of federal funding to fight climate change.

And the Lehigh Valley was among them.

DEP in April announced the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission had been awarded $1 million by opting into the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program, part of the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

“We have a monumental opportunity to protect and improve our land, water and air,” LVPC Executive Director Becky Bradley said in a news release announcing the funding.

“We must ensure that the quality and availability of these resources is available now and into the future. Addressing our climate crisis is going to require the kind of planning and response that can only be accomplished through a multi-governmental partnership.

“It’s a practical, innovative path to the best possible outcomes.”

In addition to the LVPC, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission got funding through the program.

At the same time, the state received $3 million for climate planning.

Plans for action

Over the next two years, LVPC must create a PCAP focused on industrial decarbonization, as well as a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan.

Parallel to that effort, the state also must create a PCAP. The priority plan is due March 1 for both agencies.

By participating in the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program, states also are eligible to apply for a $4.6 billion pool of competitive implementation grants, also established by the Inflation Reduction Act and administered by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“I’ll stress again — only measures included in the Priority Climate Action Plan will be eligible for phase two implementation grants. So, it’s really important that we consider community priorities early.”

“I’ll stress again — only measures included in the Priority Climate Action Plan will be eligible for phase two implementation grants,” Byron said during the public engagement session.

“So it’s really important that we consider community priorities early.”

At least 40% of the benefits from grants “must occur in low-income and disadvantaged communities as defined in the White House’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.”

The Lehigh Valley’s three major cities – Allentown, Easton and Bethlehem – are all considered “disadvantaged,” according to the White House’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, described as “overburdened and underserved.”

The Valley’s three major cities — Allentown, Easton and Bethlehem — are all considered “disadvantaged,” according to the screening tool, described as “overburdened and underserved.”

Applications for implementation grants are due April 1, Byron said. They expect federal officials to notify grantees in July, and award funds in October.

After an introduction and explanation on how the grant process works, participants were organized into virtual break-out rooms, each with about two dozen participants with two DEP staff members to facilitate a discussion.

Officials first asked residents how climate change affects them, and several noted the health impacts of climate change, as well as extreme weather events threatening infrastructure.

“There are two major concerns,” Joseph Murray said. “Air pollution is causing a high rate of asthma in our community, in children especially, in Reading and along the major highways.

“The second is flooding caused by heavy, stalled rainstorms that destroyed Antietam Middle High School in Lower Alsace Township.”

A July storm, which flooded parts of Berks County, also caused more than $7.5 million worth of damage in Northampton County.

A month before, Canadian wildfire smoke inundated the Valley, choking its residents. This year, Allentown was designated the asthma capital of the United States.

Cynthia Paukovitch of Nazareth noted the proliferation of warehouses in the Valley, causing an influx of diesel trucking that can exacerbate emissions as well as health conditions.

“There just doesn’t seem to be enough regulation or ordinances,” Paukovitch said.

“Maybe we haven’t kept up with the influx of the warehouse impact, but there doesn’t seem to be enough protection to say health-wise, this is not healthy for us to be this close and this inundated with diesel trucking.”

“The key thing thinking about this, the CPRG, is that the goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So any kind of plan is fair game if it helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Colleen Unroe, a William And Hannah Penn fellow with the DEP who focuses on helping connect clean energy resources to environmental justice communities.
As the meeting progressed, ideas began to flow forward — including municipalities switching from gas to electric lawnmowers.

“That’s actually not an example that we’ve heard thus far,” said Colleen Unroe, a William And Hannah Penn fellow with the DEP who focuses on helping connect clean energy resources to environmental justice communities.

“So if a community wanted to pursue that, that would be great.”

Other ideas included creating more bike trails, improving public transit and increasing education and engagement with residents to make everyday decisions that reduce emissions.

“The key thing thinking about this, the CPRG, is that the goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Unroe said. “So any kind of plan is fair game if it helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

View the full story at lehighvalleynews.com.

Allegheny County and the area around Cranberry can begin planning road safety improvements through study grants announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The grants, $520,000 for the county and $244,000 for the Cranberry area, were among 385 implementation and planning grants worth $817 million. The funds were awarded under the Safe Streets and Roads for All program, part of the Biden administration’s economic stimulus plan that earmarked $14 billion over five years to improve road conditions and reduce the sharp spike in traffic deaths that occurred during the first two years of the pandemic.

The department announced 48 grants for project implementation and 337 grants for studies that are expected to lead to future projects.

For Allegheny County, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission applied for the grant to study ways to reduce accidents, which have averaged more than 12,000 a year since 2002. The $520,000 grant will help pay for a $650,000 study by SPC staff.

SPC spokeswoman Caitlin O’Connor said in an email that Josh Spano, manager of transportation operations and safety, will lead a team that will identify the most dangerous traffic areas in the county and develop plans to address them. The study should take just over a year, and the agency will then apply for another grant to implement the recommendations.

“We will work to identify locations with fatalities and serious injuries and develop proven countermeasures that meet safety goals,” she said. “We’ll focus on developing specific recommendations for infrastructure and policy changes that can be implemented to support the reduction of traffic incidents and fatalities.”

O’Connor said the study will include all roads, not only those owned and maintained by the county. It won’t be limited to one type of road or intersection.

“Overarching regional safety strategies will be developed as well as more specific improvements for specific high-risk areas,” she said.

In Butler County, Cranberry Manager Dan Santoro said the grant will help pay for a $305,000 study for safety improvements in Cranberry, Jackson, Zelienople and Harmony to better protect bikers and pedestrians. It should take four to six months for a consultant to identify dangerous intersections and connections with trails such as the Commodore Perry Trail in the neighboring communities and develop a plan to deal with them, Santoro said.

The study can be done that quickly, once the federal money is released, because the communities have been cooperating on preliminary work the past several years.

“We want to take that to the next level,” Santoro said. “We want to see where we can improve connectivity but also improve safety.”

During a national news briefing Wednesday, White House Infrastructure Improvement Coordinator Mitch Landrieu called the transportation grants “an unprecedented investment” in safety that has included three rounds of funding worth $1.7 billion this year. The implementation grants will fund programs such as $21.8 million in improvements to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Dallas, where there have been six deaths and 25 injuries over the past five years.

“I’m hoping these programs can save more lives and have more people home at the holiday table [in future years],” Polly Trottenberg, deputy transportation secretary, said during the briefing.

View the full article at unionprogress.com

On Monday, several lawmakers announced that Allegheny County is getting a federal grant to make streets safer.

Rep. Summer Lee, Rep. Chris Deluzio, Senator Bob Casey and Senator John Fetterman together announced the $520,000 in funding allocated from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All grant. The funds go to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

“The infrastructure law is making our roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike,” Senator Casey said. “I was proud to advocate for funding to help the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission identify Allegheny County’s most dangerous roads in order to make them safer and save lives.”

The funds will be used by the SPC to develop a Vision Zero Safety Action Plan, which identifies areas of critical need.

“By developing a comprehensive Vision Zero Safety Action Plan, we are taking a huge step towards identifying and rectifying the most hazardous areas in our community. This initiative not only promises a safer today but also lays the groundwork for expanding these vital safety measures across Southwestern Pennsylvania, ensuring a more secure tomorrow for all our residents,” Rep. Lee said.

View the full article at wpxi.com

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission has received $520,000 in federal funding to develop a plan to make streets safer in Allegheny County, which is coming off its deadliest traffic year in nearly two decades.

Last year, Allegheny County saw 84 traffic fatalities, the most since 2005, according to PennDOT. After a dip in road fatalities in 2020 when the region was in lockdown for months due to the pandemic, traffic fatalities have been increasing.

The funding will allow the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission to create a plan for Allegheny County that focuses on infrastructure and policy changes to help reduce traffic fatalities.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, said the funding is a good first step in making the region safer for all road users, including motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.

“We are taking a huge step towards identifying and rectifying the most hazardous areas in our community,” she said.

Pedestrian safety has become a pressing issue in Pittsburgh. There were 16 pedestrian deaths in Allegheny County in 2022, the highest number since 2017, according to PennDOT.

Along with Lee, U.S. Rep Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, and U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, and John Fetterman, D-Braddock, advocated for the road safety funding. Fetterman has also introduced a bill to help expedite funding to municipalities that have already planned out road safety projects.

Allegheny County has consistently led all Pennsylvania counties with traffic crashes. In 2022, the county recorded 11,524 crashes, which amounted to about 10% of all crashes in the state. After a dip in 2020, crashes have been increasing in Allegheny County, but have yet to eclipse pre-pandemic figures.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission covers the entire 10-county Pittsburgh region. Officials said the commission plans to expand road safety planning beyond Allegheny County after completing the county-specific plan first.

View the full article at triblive.com