A big part of having a job is getting to the job.

And that was a big part of the hiring fair that Amazon held at Steel Valley Transit in Steubenville on Tuesday.

More than two-dozen job seekers filed through the Robert J. Cutri Multi-Modal Center downtown, hoping to hear back on a job offer from the Imperial, Pa. Amazon Warehouse.

The job fair is the brainchild of Amy Kirlangitis, a Weirton woman who took a positive approach to being unemployed during the pandemic.

She found bringing a large Pittsburgh-area employer in drew job seekers. She went to work in the Amazon Warehouse.

“The recruiting office hired me, and I work there full-time ,and they said you can feed your passion. You can help the Ohio Valley come work for us,” said Kirlangitis, who is now Amazon Pittsburgh’s staffing coordinator.

Kirlangitis said with help from Ronda Craig, public involvement coordinator, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, and Tim Turner of SVRTA, the issues of transportation were handled.

“There’s no blanket statement that says we’re on welfare, we don’t want to work. They can’t get out. They can’t get out of their dysfunction, they want to work, they just need a way,” Kirlangitis said.

“We definitely team up with (Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson MPC) here in Steubenville, and we have seen over the last five years that I’ve been with the SPC that people are trying to commute from down here,” Craig said.

SPC and BHJ coordinated a rideshare and vanpooling system, with the bus routes being the next step.

Read the full article at wtov9.com

Southwestern Pennsylvania’s transportation infrastructure is slated to receive a slew of expansions, updates and remodels after officials approved a regional transportation improvement plan at a meeting Monday.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission approved about $6 billion in funding over a four-year period as part of the 10-county region’s plan to improve its transportation infrastructure, according to a 2023-2026 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) investment summary.

The program’s summary includes $740 million for bridge maintenance, $2.2 billion for roads, $186 million for buses and passenger vehicles and $420 million for operations and safety projects.

“The consideration of the TIP would be looking at how are we an advancing and resilient community,” Leslie Osche, the body’s commissioner, said in an interview Monday.

She added that the four-year TIP plan is part of a 25-year vision to improve Southwestern Pennsylvania’s transportation infrastructure to make it more resilient, connected and competitive.

The TIP, which was unanimously approved by the body Monday, is set to provide funding to rehabilitate or reconstruct 266 bridges and 466 miles of roadway in the region, the commission’s summary report states.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission region represents Armstrong, Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

The report states that the funding will also focus on serving low-income and minority communities that new transportation construction like highways have historically fractured.

Ms. Osche said the improvements will give people fairer access to transportation.

The SCP has scheduled about $740 million for bridge maintenance across the region. The planned improvements include the Karns Crossing Bridge in Butler County, the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge in Allegheny County and the U.S. 422 Graff Bridge in Armstrong County.

Read the full article at postgazette.com

Roads and bridges in Southwestern Pennsylvania will see a $300 million boost in funding because of the infrastructure law enacted in 2021.

The extra money is included in a regional plan for $1.5 billion in transportation projects that is set to be approved June 27 by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

The commission’s Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) covers 2023 through 2026 and includes increases in funding for bridges, highway safety improvements and bike-and-pedestrian infrastructure compared to the previous program.

The SPC is responsible for allocating state and federal funds to local transportation infrastructure projects across 10 Southwestern Pennsylvania counties that surround Pittsburgh.

Among the $300 million increase in funding for roads and bridges under the commission’s jurisdiction, $100 million is earmarked just for bridges.

At a June 1 public meeting, SPC staff explained that the increase in funding for Pittsburgh-area transportation infrastructure is thanks to the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law passed by Congress in 2021.

“With passage of the bipartisan law, the highway and bridge funding is back up to higher levels,” said SPC director of transportation planning Domenic D’Andrea.

Roads and bridges are the biggest winners, but bike-and-pedestrian improvements, while still comparatively small, also saw a big jump and increased five-fold compared to the last TIP.

Funds for public transit also saw a modest jump. D’Andrea said this includes some money for capital improvements, but most is for operations. The majority of public transit funds are funneled to Port Authority of Allegheny County — rebranded Pittsburgh Regional Transit last week — the region’s largest public transit agency.

Read the full article at www.triblive.com

Allegheny County, followed by Indiana and Fayette counties, had the highest number of homes and businesses with internet connections in a 10-county region with connections so slow they didn’t even qualify as broadband, according to a new study by a Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission-led coalition of nonprofits.

At the same time, the study named Allegheny, Beaver and Armstrong as counties as places with remarkably fast online speeds as well.

Although Allegheny County had among the fastest internet speeds in the 10-county region, the study identified pockets of the county where internet access lagged — in municipalities along the Monongahela River, for example. Western Washington County, Greene County and much of Indiana County, traditionally Amish country, also lacked the fiber cables, towers and other gear necessary for speedy connections.

“Rural areas were frustrated by the complete lack of access,” Laura Stephany, health policy director, Allies for Children, said during a briefing Monday about the study. “This is an issue of equity. It’s also an economic development issue.”

Included in the 10-county region were Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission defines “well served” by download and upload broadband speeds greater than or equal to 100/100 megabits per second; “underserved” is slower than 50/10 megabits per second; and “unserved” is speeds less than 25/3 megabits per second, or barely fast enough to support a Zoom call.

Megabit is a measurement of network speed, with the higher numbers being faster download and upload speeds.

Some 36,000 homes and 15,000 businesses in Pittsburgh and surrounding 10-county region were unserved or underserved by broadband while 12% of the population relied on cell phones for internet access, which can be too slow for some internet applications.

The study will determine the amount of federal dollars the region will receive to expand access and boost connectivity speeds to 100/20 megabits per second, far faster than the 25/3 megabit per second speed the Federal Communications Commission now uses to define high-speed broadband.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Allies for Children, and the Metro21 and Traffic21 initiatives at Carnegie Mellon University, collaborated to form Southwest Pennsylvania Connected, a group to advise applicants for funding from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Through the law, some $65 billion will be available to broadband installation and expansion projects in the U.S., with priority given to areas with slow speeds and high poverty recipients without access.

Read the full story at post-gazette.com

CommuteInfo is hosting a “Commuter Challenge” to encourage people to try transit, vanpool, carpool, biking, walking and telework for their commuting trips during the week of May 16 – 22, 2022.

Overview of the CommuteInfo Commuter Challenge 2022

• The CommuteInfo Commuter Challenge is a friendly competition for anyone 18 years old or older, who live, work or go to school in one of these 10 counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Fayette, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland.
• The CommuteInfo Commuter Challenge will be held May 16-22, 2022.
• Commuters can try transit, vanpooling, carpooling, biking or walking to their jobsite or school or telework.

Rewards will be given by a random drawing for those who participate, such as public transit, vanpooling, carpooling, biking, walking or telework and submit their activity log by Noon on May 23, 2022.

Visit commuteinfo.org to learn more!

SPC is excited to announce our Regional Data Center web presence has received a complete overhaul and re-design!

Data-driven and casual users alike will now find a wealth of on-demand and fully customizable options to access a variety of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources for information focused on the Southwestern Pennsylvania Region.

Auto-generated PDF, excel, csv, and html file export options offer complete flexibility on how our users want their data delivered.

Regional data is presented in detailed, interactive Census profiles, a series of prebuilt tables, and a Data Navigator tool that allows the user to build customized data tables.

Visualizations are also included in the form of Tableau dashboards and Data Tidbits content that highlight key data for the SPC region.

View the new RDC at: www.spcregion.org/resources-tools/regional-data-center/

The
Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission has developed a corridor plan for Brodhead
Road (State Route 3007/State Route 18) between Old Brodhead Road and the
Allegheny County/Beaver County border. The corridor plan includes short,
medium, and long term recommendations that will improve the transportation
operations and safety for all users and serve as an investment plan that will
guide the planning and programming of transportation projects in the study
area.

The study makes recommendations that improve regional mobility and accessibility for all, enhance the quality of life and livability of the community, and advance economic and community development goals.

Learn more about Operations and Safety at SPC.

Washington County has begun a three-year, $30 million project to expand internet access in the rural county, which is located about 35 miles south of Pittsburgh. The first baby steps in the project will bring service to about 50 homes in Avella, home to fewer than 1,000 people, and also to the nearby Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village. Meadowcroft, a National Historic Landmark operated by the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, was a campsite used 19,000 years ago by hunters and gatherers who left behind traces of ice age fire pits, stone and bone tools and pottery fragments.

Getting every home and business in Washington County online will depend on funding, which the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission is exploring in a 10-county connectivity plan being developed with Carnegie Mellon University and Allies for Children, a North Side-based advocacy group. The plan is expected to launch by March.

Money that Washington County Commissioners earmarked for broadband expansion is separate from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which contains $65 billion for erecting towers and installing the fiber-optic cable needed to upgrade internet service. Pennsylvania and other states will receive broadband funding payments of $100 million — and potentially much more, depending on need — over several years under the new law.

Read the full article at www.govtech.com

Pennsylvania will pay $23.5 million to replace the collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge, officials at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission announced Monday afternoon. Even as they welcomed the news, many noted that the process to fund needed infrastructure repairs has historically taken much longer, and shouldn’t.

“The state has really stepped up in helping out the region and financing the cost for the new bridge,” said Andy Waple, SPC’s director of transportation.

The SPC is a metropolitan planning organization, which helps to coordinate the use of federal, state, and local funds to improve transportation and economic development in the 10-county region. All of the money to replace the Fern Hollow Bridge is federal, and will not require a match from local sources; that means the region won’t have to pull funding from other key projects.

Waple said the collapse has reinforced the need for sustainable transportation funding at state and federal levels.

“Had we had this boost in federal funding years ago, you know, that bridge might have been one of the ones that — it may still be standing today.”

In the last decade,the SPC has spent nearly half of its annual transportation improvement funding to fix bridges, and has reduced the number of bridges in poor condition from 1,917 in 2010 to 968 in 2020. However, Waple said there’s a long way to go.

PennDOT can fund the project in part because of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, said Deputy Secretary Larry Shifflety. For 2022, the federal law allocated an additional $31 million to the secretary’s discretionary reserve fund at the agency — known as Spike — which allowed PennDOT to make this commitment.

“Not necessarily the way we’d like to have it received,” he said, referring to the collapse hastening the decision, “but certainly happy that we’re able to have that money coming our way and be able to help the region out.”

Read the full story at WESA.fm

A grant from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission will provide $450,492 in funding for a sidewalk and dedicated bike path along Saltsburg Avenue, White Township officials announced at a meeting Wednesday.

Communication specialist Chauncey Ross said the township will be responsible for $60,000 in engineering costs for design fees.

The grant will fund a project that will be developed this year, with ground likely being broken in 2023, Ross said.

It will provide a continuation of bike lanes that run down Rose Street beginning near Hoss’s restaurant and ending at Saltsburg Avenue. The bike lane would be extended to Rustic Lodge Road, and a sidewalk would also be constructed along Saltsburg Avenue.

The project promotes safe walking and the use of alternative transportation, Ross said.

Read the full story at www.indianagazette.com