As developers await the stabilization of the office market, they continue to gravitate toward housing and other uses in the popular Strip District neighborhood.

With new housing comes new residents. In a recently released State of the Strip District report, Strip District Neighbors — a nonprofit dedicated to promoting economic development and quality of life in the neighborhood — indicate the neighborhood’s population is expected to double again within the next two to three years.

The third annual report says the residential population, currently 3,214, has grown 316% since 2015.

“The Strip currently has 2,297 rental and for-sale units combined, 35 under construction and 2,111 units expected to deliver within the next few years,” the report reads. “Once these new units are completed, the Strip is poised to see its current residential population double again.”

In the report, Pamela Austin, president and board chair of Strip District Neighbors, notes the influx of entertainment venues — such as Puttshack, Puttery, Sandbox VR and City Winery, in the Terminal on Smallman Street, and reopening of Pittsburgh Winery in the Franklin on Penn building — have driven residential sales and retail openings.

“Brick-and-mortar storefronts continue to thrive in the Strip District, with 17 new retail and restaurants established in 2022, primarily along Smallman Street,” the report continues.

Eleven new shops, restaurants, financial services and event venues are also in the works.

Austin adds the completion of Forte Condominiums on Penn Avenue added to the “sizable portion of for-sale home transactions,” and mentioned the addition of notable institutions — the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission and the Richard K. Mellon Foundation, as well as Oshkosh Corp. that are also fueling the boom.

The Strip District is part of the “Downtown Fringe” submarket, which accounts for 15% of all Pittsburgh’s office inventory, according to the report.

While the area is in high demand, the report says there is substantial space to fill the most recent office developments in the neighborhood — Oxford’s 75 Hopper Place at 3 Crossings and Burns Scalo Real Estate’s Vision on Fifteenth.

In an effort to combat “extreme headwinds” in the office market caused by corporations giving back space, downsizing, hybrid work-from-home models and interest rates and inflation, city officials have passed legislation to streamline the zoning process to convert office space to residential space.

The city has also piloted a $9 million residential conversion program in partnership with the state and county.

View the full article at pittsburghmagazine.com

Despite a waning office market and struggles by the companies of Robotics Row, people keep moving into the Strip District.

That’s one of big take aways of the new State of the Strip Report for 2023, an annual neighborhood benchmarking exercise by Strip District Neighbors, a community organization.

“The Strip District continues to transform as a residential community,” said Pam Austin, president of Strip District Neighbors, at an event July 13 to announce the report’s basic findings at Cadence on Smallman Street. “Our pipeline is the most abundant in the city.”

According to the new report, the population of the Strip District grew by 316% since 2015, reaching an estimated total population of 3,214 residents, a figure that’s grown dramatically in part due to demand and in part since before a recent boom in the past 20 years, it was a neighborhood with very little residential population at all.

Given high asking rents and a recent residential sale that eclipsed $2 million for the first time, the report projects the Strip District’s population will double again in the next two to three years, based on a pipeline of 2,111 residential units in the works for the urban fringe neighborhood along the Allegheny River, with many projects announced or approved by the city along Smallman Street in the past 18 months.

Average apartment rents in the Strip District range from $1,520 for a studio to more than $2,800 for a two-bedroom unit, according to the report.

The report totaled up 17 new restaurants and retailers that opened in the Strip District in the last year, many of them opening in the Strip District Terminal — City Winery, Sandbox VR, among others — as well as elsewhere along Smallman Street.

It was an expansion trend that significantly outpaced only two retail closures in the last year.

The neighborhood’s office market, once one of the most active places in the region for new office development, drawing in a variety of major tech firms, has not fared as well, in keeping with the office sector as a whole.

The report noted “extreme headwinds” in the office market even as it welcomed some significant newcomers to the neighborhood, noting the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission inked new offices at the Strip District Terminal and Oshkosh Corp. set up an innovation center in the tech flex Factory 26.

View the full article at bizjournals.com

Bike Share Pittsburgh, the nonprofit operator of POGOH bikeshare, is installing 22 new POGOH stations through July and is launching 154 new e-assist bikes and 66 pedal bikes into their fleet.

In addition to creating more connections within the current network, the new stations will connect several new neighborhoods, including Hazelwood, Larimer, Garfield, Upper Lawrenceville, Allegheny Center and Central Northside.

The growth of the bikeshare network is made possible by a Federal Highway Administration grant for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ). The grant request was supported locally by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the City of Pittsburgh.

“Because POGOH riders need to both rent and return their bikes at one of our stations, we need a lot of stations to make the system convenient. This expansion is focused on increasing the convenience of our network, and better connecting more neighborhoods to bikeshare,” said David White, executive director of Bike Share Pittsburgh, in a press release. “This twenty-two station expansion is a meaningful step towards our vision to have POGOH stations in every neighborhood in the City and eventually extend to many inner ring municipalities.”

The new station locations have received approval from city council and permits from the City of Pittsburgh.

For more information about Bike Share Pittsburgh and the 2023 station expansion, visit pogoh.com.

View the full story at wpxi.com

Federal, state, and local officials are highlighting the impact of a major federal grant program to help combat climate change.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan joined Congresswoman Susan Wild, D-7th, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, and other local officials and representatives at the waterfront in Allentown on Tuesday to discuss the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program.

The $5 billion CPRG program provides resources for states, tribes, territories and municipalities to develop and implement solutions to protect people from pollution and advance environmental justice.

The two-stage grant program is part of the federal Inflation Reduction Act, and includes $250 million in funding for planning grants, along with $4.6 billion for competitive implementation grants.

Regan said in a statement that tackling the climate crisis “demands a sense of urgency to protect people and the planet,” adding that efforts like the CPRG program are “an unprecedented opportunity to provide communities like Allentown with resources to develop innovative strategies that address worsening climate change impacts, create good paying jobs, and deliver economic benefits for all.”

Through the program, Pennsylvania and the other states will each receive $3 million in grant funding, which will be used to identify opportunities to reduce climate pollution, promote clean energy, and develop strategies to drive economic benefits, according to a release from Wild’s office.

Locally the Lehigh Valley, through the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, will receive $1 million to foster regional collaboration and help the region’s municipalities tackle pollution while generating economic growth, and also to update or create climate, energy, or sustainability plans.

Regarding investment opportunities, Tuerk said that “For too long, middle-class communities like Allentown have missed out on opportunities to make investments that lower the cost of energy efficiency and ensure an equitable future for residents.”

Wild said she was proud to see investments coming to the Greater Lehigh Valley region, and she said the grant program, “is going to help this city, Allentown, as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, start on a path towards a more sustainable future – and will also help to create good-paying jobs in the immediate.”

In May, LVPC Executive Director Becky Bradley spoke with WDIY about how the planning commission was able to secure its $1 million allotment, as under the CPRG program, only the 67 most populous metropolitan areas in the country were eligible to receive this money.

“Well we’re the 69th largest region in the Untied States. New Haven, Connecticut was the 68th,” Bradley explained. “We didn’t want to accept that, so we were going to work with EPA to try to come up with some other way to get access to that funding.

“Because of those advocacy efforts, and because some states who were also eligible for the funding decided not to file their notice of intent, we were able to go and get $1 million for climate action.”

The funding awards were announced in April by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which said that two other planning commissions – the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission – would also receive $1 million each.

Bradley said the LVPC would use the money to work on the regional climate action plan, with elements including a regional green infrastructure program, alternative fuel strategies, air quality monitors, improved walking and biking, and increased investment in LANTA, among other measures.

The EPA says Priority Climate Action Plans are due by March 1, 2024, and that applications for the general implementation grants competition will likely be due around the beginning of April 2024.

View the full article at wdiy.org

Fayette County Commissioner Vincent Vicites put the county on display Monday by hosting the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission meeting at the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council office.

Vicites serves as SPC secretary-treasurer.

The organization has moved recent meetings while its Pittsburgh Strip District offices are undergoing renovations.

“This is the first time in history that a meeting has been held here with public parties,” Vicites said.

He said officials from Butler, Armstrong, Washington, Allegheny and Greene counties attended the session.

More than 40 people attended the 75-minute session, including several members via internet.

The Fay-Penn site in Lemont Furnace provided video technical applications.

Joseph Ambrose of Republic Food Enterprises said his company’s affiliations with farms of all sizes creates second-source revenue for value-added products in southwestern Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia and Maryland.

Ambrose catered the event.

Laura Kurtz Kuhns, Fay-Penn executive director, discussed such Fayette County attractions as the Joseph Hardy Connellsville Airport, Fort Necessity and Fallingwater.

She said Fallingwater has been named among the nation’s most loved attractions. The house near Mill Run was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and is considered to be his residential masterpiece.

Dom D’Andrea, director of transportation planning for the region’s long-range plan, outlined topics discussed in recent weeks during Fayette County commissioners’ meetings.

He said the planning sequence that runs through 2025 is reviewed every four years.

SPC members unanimously endorsed highway bridge investments, new transit investments and air quality conformity determination.

Major attention through investments will be given to Interstate highways 79, 70 and 376. In the long term, roughly $2.2 billion is expected for highway improvements.

A Vision Zero Plan will be implemented for Allegheny County, with a goal of achieving zero deaths or serious injuries from motor vehicle accidents.

Allegheny County has had more than half of the serious accidents in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

A Competitive Economy Infrastructure and Technology for Sustainable and Resilient Communities program is expected to focus on workforce assistance in areas of need.

View the full article at dailycourier.com

[…]

Aurora Sharrard
Executive director of sustainability at the University of Pittsburgh
Aurora Sharrard is the first-ever sustainability ED role for the University of Pittsburgh. This entails overseeing sustainability staff and the university’s sustainability efforts, policies, and partnerships related to its sustainability strategy. Sharrard was previously the Green Building Alliance’s executive director for 11 years and cofounded the Pittsburgh 2030 District, a network designed to ensure that communities and buildings are sustainable. In her spare time Sharrard is a board member for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services and co-chairs the Pittsburgh’s Higher Education Climate Consortium.

[…]

View the full article at technical.ly

In June 2019, the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission — the metropolitan planning organization for the area that includes Butler County — adopted a long-range transportation plan called “SmartMoves for a Changing Region.” The 25-year plan called for $35 billion in transportation and infrastructure improvements in the commission’s 10-county area.

Federal law requires planning organizations to update the plan at least every four years. As part of these efforts, the commission held a virtual meeting with residents of Butler County to gather public opinion on long-term transportation and infrastructure issues in the county.

The meeting for Butler County residents was the 10th out of 11 scheduled public meetings on the plan, with another held for the city of Pittsburgh.

The SmartMoves update is currently in the 30-day public comment period, and the commission is hoping to finalize the update by June 26.

“Public involvement is very critical and is the beginning and ending of the process to update the long range transportation plan,“ said Ryan Gordon, commission manager of Transportation Program Development.

Projects in the long-range transportation plan are divided into three stages. Stage 1 is for projects in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) which are projected for completion within the next three years. Stages 2 and 3 are for projects with much wider scope and are “much more conceptual in nature,” and are scheduled for completion between 2027 and 2050.

“We are going to have a number of TIP updates before we even get to 2035,” Gordon said. “So just keep in mind that this time frame represents numerous TIP updates and extends all the way to 2050.”

According to Gordon, many projects in the SmartMoves plan are still in Stage 2 or 3. However, some improvement projects in Butler County have moved from Stage 2 to the Stage 1. These include series of safety improvement projects along Route 228, such as the Balls Bend improvement project and the Three Degree Road intersection improvement.

Other projects currently in the Stage 1 phase include signal replacements along Route 68, as well as improvements to various small bridges in Butler County such as the Geibel Road bridge in Summit Township and Callery Bridge in Callery.

The commission is seeking additional funding for projects to improve the Karns Crossing Bridge and the Picklegate Crossing viaduct, among other bridges and roadways.

“Bridges continue to be a large percentage of the investment in the region, and Butler County is no different,” Gordon said.

After meeting with the Butler Transit Authority, the commission identified transit needs for the county which it estimates will amount to $108 million over the life of the SmartMoves plan. This includes $73.1 million in operating and maintenance costs, $32.2 million for buses and other vehicles, and $2.7 million for facilities.

Projects high on the priority list include two more park-and-ride facilities for commuter service direct to Pittsburgh — one in Evans City and one on Stevenson Road in Renfrew. Combined, these would cost $3.75 million to design and construct. $120,000 has also been budgeted for bus shelter upgrades.

The commission is still allowing the public to submit comments on the SmartMoves plan until Friday, June 9. Comments can be submitted by email at comments@spcregion.org or by fax at 412-391-9160.

In June 2019, the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission — the metropolitan planning organization for the area that includes Butler County — adopted a long-range transportation plan called “SmartMoves for a Changing Region.” The 25-year plan called for $35 billion in transportation and infrastructure improvements in the commission’s 10-county area.

Federal law requires planning organizations to update the plan at least every four years. As part of these efforts, the commission held a virtual meeting with residents of Butler County to gather public opinion on long-term transportation and infrastructure issues in the county.

The meeting for Butler County residents was the 10th out of 11 scheduled public meetings on the plan, with another held for the city of Pittsburgh.

The SmartMoves update is currently in the 30-day public comment period, and the commission is hoping to finalize the update by June 26.

“Public involvement is very critical and is the beginning and ending of the process to update the long range transportation plan,“ said Ryan Gordon, commission manager of Transportation Program Development.

Projects in the long-range transportation plan are divided into three stages. Stage 1 is for projects in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) which are projected for completion within the next three years. Stages 2 and 3 are for projects with much wider scope and are “much more conceptual in nature,” and are scheduled for completion between 2027 and 2050.

“We are going to have a number of TIP updates before we even get to 2035,” Gordon said. “So just keep in mind that this time frame represents numerous TIP updates and extends all the way to 2050.”

According to Gordon, many projects in the SmartMoves plan are still in Stage 2 or 3. However, some improvement projects in Butler County have moved from Stage 2 to the Stage 1. These include series of safety improvement projects along Route 228, such as the Balls Bend improvement project and the Three Degree Road intersection improvement.

Other projects currently in the Stage 1 phase include signal replacements along Route 68, as well as improvements to various small bridges in Butler County such as the Geibel Road bridge in Summit Township and Callery Bridge in Callery.

The commission is seeking additional funding for projects to improve the Karns Crossing Bridge and the Picklegate Crossing viaduct, among other bridges and roadways.

“Bridges continue to be a large percentage of the investment in the region, and Butler County is no different,” Gordon said.

After meeting with the Butler Transit Authority, the commission identified transit needs for the county which it estimates will amount to $108 million over the life of the SmartMoves plan. This includes $73.1 million in operating and maintenance costs, $32.2 million for buses and other vehicles, and $2.7 million for facilities.

Projects high on the priority list include two more park-and-ride facilities for commuter service direct to Pittsburgh — one in Evans City and one on Stevenson Road in Renfrew. Combined, these would cost $3.75 million to design and construct. $120,000 has also been budgeted for bus shelter upgrades.

The commission is still allowing the public to submit comments on the SmartMoves plan until Friday, June 9. Comments can be submitted by email at comments@spcregion.org or by fax at 412-391-9160.

View the full story at butlereagle.com

The draft long-range transportation plan for 10 southwestern Pennsylvania counties and the city of Pittsburgh calls for spending $41.4 billion over the next 25 years for roads, bridges, public transit and trail improvements.

That’s nearly a $10 billion increase since the plan was updated four years ago and marks a major change in emphasis from road and bridge work to public transit. Under the new proposal from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, transit spending is expected to increase from $14.4 billion to $26.8 billion while road and bridge spending is expected to drop from $17.3 billion to $14.6 billion.

Domenic D’Andrea, director of SPC’s office of transportation planning, emphasized the agency hasn’t shifted its priorities but planned future spending based on where it expects funding to be available over the next 25 years. The agency plans how federal transportation money will be spent in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties, as well as Pittsburgh.

“I don’t think there’s a shift in priorities,” he said. “We look at the revenues and what we think is going to be available.”

The Biden administration’s stimulus plan earmarked billions for public transportation because that addresses the president’s goal to reduce air pollution.

“This is going to be a really exciting time” for transit as a result of the extra funding, Dave Totten, SPC’s transit planner, said during a recent public input meeting in Pittsburgh.

He noted the plan includes funding for major Pittsburgh Regional Transit initiatives such as building a new maintenance garage, replacing light rail vehicles, extending the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway to Monroeville and developing a transit corridor from Pittsburgh’s Strip District to Oakland, Hazelwood and Overbrook neighborhoods that could include the use of gondolas.

Other counties can expect help replacing diesel buses with electric vehicles and funding for other projects. One of those would be creating a common payment system for all transit agencies in the region, to make it easier for customers to transfer from one agency’s system to another for longer commutes.

Butler County is conducting a study on the feasibility of setting up a transfer station near the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.

Although there will be a smaller pool of money for roads and bridges, D’Andrea said, a higher percentage of that money will go toward bridge projects. That’s because billions have been earmarked under President Joe Biden’s stimulus plan to upgrade thousands of bridges, he said.

D’Andrea said the region “has made some pretty good strides” over the past 10 years, reducing the number of state-maintained bridges in poor condition to 9.5% and locally owned bridges to 25%. The agency is emphasizing funding for local bridges, holding seminars in recent months to help local officials find funds for their projects.

“You’re going to see a lot more bridge projects,” he said. “Everybody is getting money for bridges. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Pittsburgh, in particular, has several bridge projects moving forward:

• Charles Anderson Bridge in Schenley Park, which was closed earlier this year after inspectors found structural problems, had a $48 million rehabilitation project moved up to next year.
• Swindell Bridge over Interstate 279 on the city’s North Side has a $27 million rehab project set for 2026.
• Larimer Avenue Bridge, above Washington Boulevard in Larimer, has $14 million for work scheduled after 2027.

D’Andrea said the collapse last year of Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge between Squirrel Hill and Point Breeze “brings focus to the issue” of bridge conditions but really had little to do with the city seeing an increase in projects. He noted the agency has to stay nimble to accommodate special cases where a bridge unexpectedly needs to be added to the work list, such as the Versailles Avenue Bridge in McKeesport, where a $10 million replacement project moved up after serious deterioration was discovered.

The draft also includes billions of dollars in road projects throughout the region, such as a $30 million traffic management system for the Parkway East in Pittsburgh, designed to ease crowded conditions by limiting where vehicles can enter the highway.

Another major project already underway is the $137 million installation of a diverging diamond interchange at Interstate 70 and Route 51 in Rostraver, Westmoreland County. The design reduces side-impact collisions by having traffic switch sides of the road going through the interchange.

Other proposed work includes eight projects on Route 21 in Fayette and Greene counties; 19 projects on Route 28 in Allegheny and Armstrong counties; 11 on Route 30 in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties; and 13 on Route 51 in Allegheny, Westmoreland and Fayette counties.

Although the spending plan appears to be robust, the report cautions there will be a shortfall in needed funds after the stimulus program ends in four years. It estimates the region will be $15.5 billion short of needed funds for the recommended projects unless something changes.

“The overall conclusion is that investment decisions for the highway and bridge asset management categories are diversified and reflect an appropriate overall commitment to Asset Management spending. But the overall shortfall in available funding is serious and means that without an overall increase in funding, transportation system performance will deteriorate during the period of this plan.”

The agency has two more virtual public meetings this week to discuss the draft plan:

• 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday for Butler County.
• 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday for Allegheny County.

The SPC board is scheduled to vote on the draft plan when it meets June 27.

View the full article at unionprogress.com

Reconstruction and intersection changes on Route 30 are among more than $1.1 billion in long-term highway projects proposed in a 25-year transportation plan for Westmoreland County.

The reconstruction of Route 30 would occur between Leger Road in North Huntingdon and the Irwin borough limits, and improvement is planned for two intersections in Hempfield — at Donohoe and Georges Station roads.

Rachel Duda, PennDOT District 12’s assistant district executive for design, said the state transportation department has yet to begin study of the proposed project at Georges Station Road, which she said Westmoreland planners suggested for consideration.

Without a left-turn signal or lane, traffic headed south on Georges Station often is backed up behind motorists waiting to turn left onto eastbound Route 30.

Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) planners have estimated in the draft version of its SmartMoves Long Range Transportation Plan that it could cost $29.5 million to improve that intersection.

“We need to do a little more work there to figure out what can be done,” said Angela Saunders, transportation planning manager for PennDOT District 12. “Because it is a very tight intersection, there may not be a lot of options. But we’re going to see what we can do.”

The SPC estimates it could cost $92.6 million to reconstruct the North Huntingdon stretch of Route 30 and $30 million to make roadway improvements at the Donohoe Road intersection with Route 30.

Duda said PennDOT is looking into another Hempfield project, at the intersection of Donohoe and Georges Station roads, that might be easier and quicker to achieve than the nearby Georges Station/Route 30 improvement. The crossroads on Donohoe, currently controlled by four-way stop signs, also is subject to traffic backups at peak hours.

Duda said preliminary engineering is underway for three options there: a traffic signal, a roundabout placed directly at the crossroads or a roundabout shifted toward one of the corners.

“That has not been decided yet,” she said. “Whenever we have an intersection project, we always start with a roundabout in mind because they’re most efficient and they’re safer. You never have someone turning left in front of you, so you eliminate angle crashes.”

$1.1 billion eyed for work

The SPC is proposing projects in Westmoreland County with a total value of $1.1 billion as part of its 10-county long-range transportation plan, which looks forward through 2050. Domenic D’Andrea, SPC’s director of transportation planning, said another $1.3 billion in spending can be allocated over those years among projects across PennDOT District 12, which includes Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington and Greene counties.

Since a previous long-range transportation plan was completed in 2019, D’Andrea said, the covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on transportation, along with other sectors of society. But additional federal and state funding has allowed the SPC and PennDOT to advance several Westmoreland projects to the current Transportation Improvement Plan of work scheduled through 2026.

Those include the second and third segments of the three-phase Laurel Valley Transportation Improvement Project, which is meant to improve alignments and intersections along the Route 981 corridor between Mt. Pleasant and Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity.

September 2023 is the target date for completing the first project section, currently under construction, between Route 819 and Norvelt in Mt. Pleasant Township. Saunders said bids are expected to be let in October for the northern section of the project, between Pleasant Unity and the airport, and in October 2025 for the middle section, between Norvelt and Pleasant Unity.

All three Laurel Valley project sections represent an investment of more than $200 million, she said.

Other pending projects in Westmoreland include:

• Rehabilitation of the West Newton Bridge that carries Route 136 over the Youghiogheny River, at an estimated cost of $7 million.
• Replacement of the Salina Bridge over the Kiski River and Norfolk Southern Railroad, estimated at $13.3 million.
• Safety improvements on Route 30 between Route 48 in North Versailles, Allegheny County, and Malts Lane in North Huntingdon, with a $22.3 million price tag.

Bridge projects dominate

The West Newton Bridge project is intended to maintain the historic significance of the metal truss span, which was built in 1909. After undergoing previous work in 1957, 1982 and 2010, it has received a poor rating for its superstructure.

Bids for the new bridge rehab project are to be let in 2024.

“The bridge that exists will stay, and we’ll preserve all the historic parts of it,” Duda said, adding that a temporary bridge will be used during construction.

“Building a temporary bridge is something that’s crazy for a bridge that size,” she said. “It took a lot of planning.”

Otherwise, the project would have required a detour “way too long to be able to handle that kind of closure,” Saunders said.

Bidding for the Salina Bridge project is targeted for December, with construction to begin next year. The existing bridge will remain open to traffic as the replacement is constructed next to it.

“There will be some detours at the end when we’re tying into the new alignment,” Saunders said.

The largest chunk of funding available for the long-range transportation plan, 44%, will be devoted to bridge projects, while roadway improvements will account for 32%.

“In the last 10 years, our region has made very good progress in decreasing the number of poor-rated bridges,” D’Andrea said. “They have been cut in half, but we still have work to do.”

He said about 10% of state-owned bridges and 25% of locally owned bridges across the region remain in poor condition.

Additional Westmoreland bridge projects proposed in the long-range transportation plan, with associated cost estimates, include:

• Replacement/rehabilitation of the Walworth Viaduct bridge that carries Route 30 over Route 119: $17.7 million.
• Replacement/rehab of the Avonmore Bridge that carries Route 156 over the Kiski River: $6 million.
• Replacement/rehab of the Larimer Bridge that carries Route 993 over Brush Creek in North Huntingdon: $5.2 million.
• Preservation of the Route 30 bridge over Edna Road in Hempfield: $8.2 million.
• Preservation of the West Leechburg Bridge over the Kiski River: $5 million.
• Improvements to the bridge carrying Route 366 over Route 380 in Murrysville: $17.5 million.
• Rehabilitation of the bridge carrying White Cloud Road over Route 56 in Allegheny Township: $5.1 million.

Additional projects proposed

Other proposed long-term Westmoreland projects:

• Reconstruction of Route 66 from Route 22 north to the county line: $21.6 million.
• Reconfiguration of North Greengate Road in the vicinity of the railroad overpass in Hempfield: $15.5 million.
• Route 130 corridor review and improvements: $10 million.
• Improvements on Route 119 from the vicinity of the former Sony plant to Youngwood and from Youngwood to the Route 30 interchange: $137 million.
• Restoration of Route 119 in the area of the West Tec Drive exit: $4.5 million.
• Pavement preservation on Route 286 between the Allegheny County and Indiana County lines: $13.3 million.
• Preservation of Route 366 from the Allegheny County line to Route 66: $7.2 million.

Public transit addressed

SPC’s plan also calls for investing $408 million in public transit in Westmoreland County through 2050. Some proposed projects include a preventive maintenance program for Westmoreland Transit buses, at a cost of $16.5 million; resurfacing of a 245-space Park & Ride lot at Carpenter Lane and Route 30 in North Huntingdon, $3.7 million; and upgrading the fare collection system, $275,000.

Senior transit planner David Totten said the SPC is working on a regional mobile ticketing study that could be ready for review in August. He said it is examining the feasibility for neighboring authorities, including Westmoreland Transit and Pittsburgh Regional Transit, to “work together, maybe at the back office level, so that there would be interoperability between transit tickets.

“You could really make a trip across the whole region on public transit.”

D’Andrea said the SPC also has identified potential multimodal hub locations across the region, “where multiple transit agencies could come together to transfer folks.”

It’s working on a detailed study of one of those proposed hub sites, near the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, he said.

Comment deadline near

The long range transportation plan is set to be finalized by June 26, with public comments accepted through Friday, June 9.

Comments can be submitted via email to comments@spcregion.org. For more information, visit spcregion.org.