Amid a national push to boost (and fund) digital access, the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are on a mission to close the digital divide by 2030.

To make this hope a reality, city and county leaders tasked the Pittsburgh Digital Equity Coalition, a group of nonprofits and institutional partners, with gathering feedback from residents and devising a plan to ensure all county residents have digital access. Roughly a year after the coalition and its members were introduced to the public, the coalition has settled on a plan.

Every two years, the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission, the metropolitan planning organization for the area that includes Butler County, updates its Transportation Improvement Plan, which is in effect for a three-year period. While the plan for 2023-26 is still in effect, the commission is working on putting together the plan for 2025-28, which comes into effect October 2024.

The commission held a public meeting at the Middlesex Township municipal building on Wednesday evening, Dec. 6, to gather feedback from Butler County residents.

People gathered to hear the proposed transportation projects in Butler County.

State, regional, and local officials got together Wednesday night to discuss the future of transportation projects in Butler County.

Representatives of PennDOT and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission joined Butler County Commissioners, municipal administrators and the Butler County Public Participation Panel for information about the Transportation Improvement Program that is being developed for 2025-2028.

A meeting Wednesday night will look at the future of transportation projects in Butler County.

The program is put together by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission and the Butler County Public Participation Panel.

It will discuss the Transportation Improvement Program that is being developed for 2025-2028.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission and Butler County Public Participation Panel will host an informational in-person public meeting starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday Dec. 6.

The meeting will be held at the Middlesex Township Municipal Building, 133 Browns Hill Road in Valencia.

This meeting will begin with a short presentation of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s Transportation Improvement Program with a display of Butler County transportation projects.

A high-speed internet expansion study of Lawrence County elicited input from a Shenango Township resident because their household is paying $100 a month for unstable internet service.

Reports of spotty service and connection issues also were reported in Enon Valley Borough, Plain Grove Township, North Beaver Township, and in Volant and Ellwood City boroughs, among other areas, as shown on an accompanying detailed map.

Rich Fitzgerald has a new job once his term as Allegheny County executive ends.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s board of directors announced Thursday that Fitzgerald has been named the new executive director for SPC, which serves 10 counties around Pittsburgh including Indiana, Armstrong and Westmoreland.

SPC, the federally certified metropolitan planning organization and local development district serving the Pittsburgh region, said it was planning for the continued growth of the region.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission announced Thursday, Nov. 30, that its board of directors has named Rich Fitzgerald as the organization’s new executive director.

Fitzgerald will officially assume this role on Jan. 2, 2024, once his tenure as Allegheny County Executive concludes.

“While I’ve always had a regional focus, I look forward to putting my skills and relationships to work for all 10 of our counties,” Fitzgerald said. “Together, we will continue to concentrate on infrastructure, communication, economic development, workforce and quality of life issues for our region.”

Outgoing Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has been tapped to lead the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, an obscure government cooperative of 10 counties and the City of Pittsburgh that helps funnel state and federal dollars to projects in the region.

The commission announced Mr. Fitzgerald’s hiring on Thursday. A term-limited Democrat who has served 12 years in Allegheny County’s top elected position, he’ll begin his new job in January once he leaves office. After more than two decades as an Allegheny County official — he was previously on County Council — he will lead a commission that helps direct state and federal transportation and economic development funding throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Rich Fitzgerald, outgoing Allegheny County executive, is heading to a new gig.

After serving 12 years as the county’s top official, he’ll become executive director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, a federally certified metropolitan planning organization and local development district that maps a blueprint for growth in 10 counties in the region. It helps counties, cities, municipalities and townships to access more than $35 billion state and federal transportation and economic development funds allocated to the region through 2045.