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

More than $1.3 million in additional funding has been made available to complete the section of the Sheepskin Trail through the city of Uniontown.

“We’re continuing to add to the trail as quickly as we can and get this thing built,” said Fayette County Commissioner Vince Vicites.

Vicites said $1,300,832 came through his involvement with the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) as the secretary/treasurer, his fellow commissioners, Uniontown Mayor Bill Gerke and the state Department of Transportation to obtain funds to finish the Uniontown leg.

“After the initial discussion, PennDOT approached us about funding, as we qualified for TIP funds,” Vicites said of Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) funds through the state agency.

Vicites said PennDOT suggested those involved in the project do a wal- through in the city to identify the future project areas and how much money would be needed to complete the Uniontown portion.

“Once we figured it out, we submitted a funding request, and PennDOT awarded the funds,” Vicites said.

The completed section of the trail in Uniontown runs from South Union Township to Beeson Avenue in the city. The remaining portion, which follows the path of an abandoned railroad line, runs just under half a mile from Beeson to North Union Township.

The project is in the final design phase with Gibson Thomas Engineering in Lemont Furnace.

Clayton VanVerth, project manager with Gibson Thomas, said three railroad bridges will be paved and transformed for bicycles and pedestrians to cross.

“The bridges are structurally sound, already inspected, and we’ll look into putting on concrete decks and rails on them,” VanVerth said.

VanVerth added that once the design phase is completed, and after months of reviews and permitting – as the bike trail will cross two state roads – actual construction could begin sometime in 2025.

Gerke said an earlier agreement with the railroad company calls for the city to be responsible for removing the existing railroad tracks through the city belonging to Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, which provided the city with $220,000 for the track removal.

Gerke is eager for the Uniontown portion to be completed.

“People have asked me about each phase, and then they are asking about the next phase,” Gerke said, adding that even in the colder months, he’s seen people walking on portions of the trail. “That’s our goal, to get the trail in the city and get people into the city. It’s a social and economic boom.”

Gerke said the commissioners have worked diligently on the project, and Vicites said it has been a team effort.

“We’re one step closer in getting it done,” said Commissioner Dave Lohr. “This is another link to get this accomplished and get to the next level.”

“We’re so excited to see this money coming in,” said Commissioner Scott Dunn. “This will be a big plus for the Sheepskin Trail and the city of Uniontown. This satisfies everyone and builds our trail.”

“This is a huge win for the county and the city,” VanVerth said.

Vicites said they’re trying to have multiple sections of the trail being worked on simultaneously, and continue to seek more funding opportunities to finish the trail.

Once completed, the 34-mile Sheepskin Trail will run from Dunbar Township to Point Marion, passing through a number of communities, including Mount Braddock, Lemont Furnace, Uniontown, Hopwood, Fairchance, Smithfield, Outcrop, Gans, Lake Lynn and Point Marion.

The finished trail will link to the Great Allegheny Passage and the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail to the north, and the West Virginia Mon River Rail-Trail System to the south.

For more information on the Sheepskin Trail, visit sheepskintrail.org/.

View the full article at heraldstandard.com.

To say last week was good for the passenger train industry would be a massive understatement.

At the national level, President Joe Biden released $8.2 billion to fund 10 major projects, including the first high-speed rail line in the U.S. and $34 million to study 69 corridors across the country for new or expanded service.

In this region, the Federal Railroad Administration agreed to pay Pennsylvania $143.6 million toward railroad upgrades to allow a second daily Amtrak trip between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg and funded a handful of corridor studies in this area, including a completely new route that would link Pittsburgh; Columbus, Ohio; and Chicago.

In a briefing for news media on Thursday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last week’s announcements are the first steps in the Biden administration’s effort to rebuild the nation’s passenger rail system. Biden’s economic stimulus program has earmarked $66 billion for rail improvements over five years.

Buttigieg noted that 150 years ago, the U.S. was a world leader in rail development when the Transcontinental Railroad was completed to allow passengers to ride from east to west across the country. Today, he said, Americans who travel to Japan or Europe come home asking why they can’t have the type of rail service here that that they find overseas.

“Despite that history, America has lagged behind for years now,” the secretary said. “We think Americans should have those same opportunities [they find overseas]. That’s what they ought to be able to expect here.”

Biden announced the first 10 projects Friday at a news conference in Las Vegas, where the gambling and entertainment mecca will be linked by a new 218-mile high-speed rail line with Rancho Cucamonga, California, just outside of Los Angeles. That $3 billion project is expected to make the trip in just over two hours, twice as fast as driving.

But that isn’t the fastest project to be funded. That distinction goes to the 171-mile, $3.07 billion project in central California linking Bakersfield and Merced that will reach speeds of up to 220 miles an hour, the fastest in the U.S.

Other projects would link Richmond, Virginia, and Raleigh, North Carolina ($1.1 billion), and replace the Long Bridge over the Potomac River between Washington, D.C., and Richmond to increase capacity ($729 million).

Buttigieg stressed that the passenger rail expansion will provide other benefits as well. For example, the Las Vegas project is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent positions, serve 11 million passengers a year, take thousands of cars off the road, and eliminate 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide pollution by using electric trains.

The corridor studies, which will cost as much as $500,000 each, are key because they will establish blueprints for the future, Buttigieg said.

Regional projects

For the Pennsylvania area, the immediate benefit will be the FRA’s 80% funding for track and station improvements for the second daily trip between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. The state had reached agreement in September with Norfolk Southern Railroad to allow additional passenger service and had been prepared to pay for the $180 million in track and station improvements itself if the federal funds didn’t come through.

“The people in Johnstown, Altoona and Greensburg have been pushing for more rail service for a long time,” Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said in an interview. “Their advocacy had really pushed this forward, and now it’s happening.”

Norfolk Southern is designing the work, which will include side tracks for freight trains to get out of the way for passenger service and more control signals. Service is expected to start in 2026.

But again, Carroll said he is “excited” about the studies to return service eliminated decades ago and establish new corridors.

The proposed corridor to link Scranton with Penn Station in New York City is the most promising, Carroll said, because existing dormant tracks are already publicly owned. There is no need to make arrangements with freight carriers to accommodate passenger service along that line, but some abandoned track would have to be rebuilt.

That proposal includes three daily trips with stops in Stroudsburg and Mount Pocono in Pennsylvania and Blairstown, Dover, Montclair, Morristown and Newark in New Jersey.

The Reading-to-Philadelphia corridor, which would return service that ended in 1983, is a little more complicated because Norfolk Southern owns the tracks and would have to provide room for passenger service. If it could be arranged, that service would include four to eight daily trips with stops at Pottstown, Phoenixville and potentially Norristown, with connections in Philadelphia to New York City.

Although those projects potentially could require the state to pay hundreds of millions of dollars as its 20% share plus some operating costs, Carroll said, “yes, positively yes” the state would find the money to pay for expanded service.

Mark Spada, president of Western Pennsylvanians for Passenger Rail, said he’s encouraged by the possibilities the corridor studies could create.

“That’s all good news for those corridors,” he said. “If nothing else, it puts those corridors on the map for the future.”

Ohio connections

Several projects in Ohio are a focal point of the corridor studies, and Pittsburgh could be a major benefactor of one of those projects.

For more than two decades, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission based in Columbus has been pushing to reestablish passenger service through what it calls the Midwest Connector. That corridor would link Pittsburgh with Chicago by way of Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, returning passenger service to the two Ohio cities for the first time since 1979.

Columbus is one of the fastest growing urban areas of the country, and returning passenger rail has been a top priority for MORPC Executive Director William Murdock. The agency has gone through a series of studies, even studying innovative hyperloop service using pressurized air pods for that corridor before Virgin Hyperloop decided to concentrate on freight service, so plans are much further along than other projects.

“This is really a transformative process from the FRA,” Murdock said of the money for corridor studies. “This is the last step we need to move forward.”

As soon as the federal money arrives, MORPC will be ready to hire consultants to put together specific plans for the corridor over the next 18 to 36 months. Murdock said the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, which oversees transportation planning over a 10-county region that includes Allegheny County, has been “a key partner” to planning the rail corridor.

Murdock said he’s “encouraged” the project will qualify for construction funding because it will be new service and the region already has done most of the preliminary work. Initial plans call for maximum rail speeds of 79 miles an hour in the new corridor but that could be pushed to 110 if there is enough interest, he said.

“We feel really confident this is a great opportunity for Pittsburgh, Columbus and Chicago and the points along the way,” he said.

At least two other corridor studies could have major implications for rail service in Ohio. One will review new service to link the state’s largest cities — Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton — while the other will look at a route from Cleveland to Detroit by way of Toledo.

Future blueprint

The $66 billion set aside for rail expansion may not cover all of the costs for projects that come out of the corridor studies, said Mitch Landrieu, Biden’s special assistant overseeing the economic stimulus program.

“With this investment, we’re creating history,” he said, noting the first American high-speed rail that is among the projects funded last week.

Buttigieg said the goal is to establish longer-term investment in rail projects. He expects the early successes will increase interest in additional projects developed through the corridor studies.

“What we are doing is creating a platform for future investment,” he said. “I think there will be more appetite for funding projects in the future.”

How soon can the public expect to see expanded service?

“Within a few years, you’re going to see some exciting changes,” he said.

View the full article at unionprogress.com.