Greensburg is planning a $389,000 project to improve the Five Star Trail, making the popular running and biking destination more accessible to city residents.

“We’re basically trying to improve the connections between the neighborhoods that are adjacent to the Five Star Trail,” said Jeff Richards, Westmoreland County parks planning coordinator and vice president of the Five Star Trail chapter of the Regional Trail Corporation.

The work will be funded with a $324,500 federal smart transportation grant administered through the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, with an additional $64,900 paid by the City of Greensburg.

Read the full article at TribLIVE.

NEXTransit is a community-driven long-range plan for a transit-oriented Pittsburgh area that values equity, accessibility, economic and social mobility, safety, resiliency, and accountability.

Through this planning process, there is the opportunity and the responsibility to engage with communities in an equitable and meaningful way, lead the region on sustainability, and improve on the metrics transit riders value most.

The NEXTransit plan will be made up of a series of documents, with input from the public.

Learn more at submit your input at https://nextransit.network/

Meeting Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/230365651279670/

#NEXTransit | @NEXTransit

Uniontown, PA – William L. Kovach, P.E., has been appointed the District Executive for
District 12, which covers Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland
counties.

William (Bill) Kovach’s career began with the Department of Transportation in 1986 as a Civil Engineer 2 in District 12-0. He was promoted to Senior Civil Engineer in 1988. Bill became the acting Structure Control Engineer in 1997 and an Assistant Construction Engineer in 1998. In 2005, he became the Construction Support Services Engineer and then the Maintenance Support Services Engineer the same year. In addition to his years at PennDOT, Bill worked in private industry giving him over 38 years of experience in transportation.

Bill became the
Assistant District Executive (ADE) for Construction for District 12-0 in 2007,
which is the most recent role held, and served a brief period as the ADE for
Design in 2010.

Bill earned a
Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at West Virginia University and is a
member of American Society of Highway Engineers, Southwest Pa. Chapter. Bill is
a Registered Professional Engineer and an ISO 9001 Internal Examiner.

Bill has been a resident of District 12
nearly his entire life residing in Greensboro, Greene County with his wife
Susan. Bill and Susan have four sons who all live nearby.

When not working, Bill enjoys helping his
sons with remodeling projects on their homes, going to dinner with family and
friends, and outdoor activities such as hunting the woods of Greene County. He
also enjoys golfing, which he admits he does not seem to find enough time for.

PennDOT welcomes Bill’s experience and
expertise that has well prepared him to provide leadership to the Department of
Transportation.

The SPC Water Resource Center is now offering our educational workshops as webinars. Several webinars are already scheduled for 2020, covering the topics of Act 167 planning, achieving co-benefits with MS4 projects, infrastructure banks, asset management/capital improvement plans. For more information see the WRC’s events page.

If you are interested in having additional topics covered, please e-mail Erin Kepple Adams, Water Resource Manager at ekepple@spcregion.org.  

As worksites across the country begin to reopen, we know that many commuters may be rethinking how they will get to their worksites and have valid concerns about the health and safety of various transportation modes.

Survey answers will be collected with others from across the country to help employers, transportation providers, and policymakers plan for how best to ensure your commute to work is safe and reliable no matter the mode you choose. This Survey is being conducted by the Association for Commuter Transportation.

Click below to access the survey:

Visit www.commuteinfo.org to learn more about Commuting Options.

Virtual public meetings are planned to allow citizens to learn about and comment on transportation improvements proposed in Southwestern Pennsylvania through 2024.

Since large gatherings are on hold during the covid-19 pandemic, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission will instead livestream public input sessions on the draft 2021-2024 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).

A session is scheduled for 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday , concerning highway, bridge and transit system improvements proposed in PennDOT District 12 (Westmoreland, Fayette, Green and Washington counties).

A similar meeting will be livestreamed at 6 p.m. June 2 for projects planned in PennDOT District 11 (City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties).

That website includes a summary of the TIP and a link for commenting on the transportation plans. Comments also may be submitted through 4 p.m. June 12 via email, at comments@spcregion.org, or by mail, sent to SPC Comments at Two Chatham Center, Suite 500, 112 Washington Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

The draft 2021-2024 TIP proposes more than $5.6 billion in funding for improvements in the region over the four years, including PennDOT District 10 (Armstrong, Butler and Indiana counties).

Read the full article at TRIB Live.

Indiana and nine other counties in the greater Pittsburgh region are seeking to figure out how to best spend federal and state funds meant for a wide range of transit and transportation projects.

The newest Transportation Improvement Plan for the region (from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2024) will include more money for interstate projects and less for local projects.

“It is disappointing that the funding that we all need to advance our projects isn’t there,” said Byron Stauffer Jr., executive director of the Indiana County Office of Planning and Development, during a 48-minute virtual public meeting of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

What SPC Director of Transportation Planning Andy Waple called “SmartMoves for a Changing Region” is part of what overall is a $22.7 billion plan for the next 25 years, including $5.6 billion over the next four federal fiscal years, which begin in October and end in September.

Read the full article at indianagazette.com

SPC wants to know what you
think about transportation projects in the region that will advance over the
next four years.

We are seeking input from the public on the following important
draft documents:

• Draft 2021-2024 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which identifies the region’s priority roadway, transit  and multimodal transportation improvements programmed for advancement over the next four years
• Environmental Justice Benefits and Burdens Assessment of the Draft 2021-2024  TIP
• Air Quality Conformity Determination for the Draft 2021-2024 TIP
• Amendment to the region’s transportation plan SmartMoves for a Changing Region  to reflect updated revenue projections and a revised project list including  project phasing and cost information included in Draft 2021-2024 TIP

Three virtual public meetings will be held that will provide an overview of the draft documents, updates on project advancement, and opportunities for the public to ask questions and submit comments.

Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Governor Wolf’s Stay-At-Home orders, SPC is unable hold in-person public meetings at this time. Virtual public meetings and other online public participation opportunities will be provided for interested parties to review and comment on draft documents. SPC will provide paper copies of materials upon request.

COVID-19 Working Capital Loan program

UPDATE – Thank you very much for your interest in the PIDA CWCA Working Capital Loan Program. PIDA has informed SPC that their office has received 890 applications from across the Commonwealth, totaling $75.6 million in requested funds. As you may be aware, PIDA only had $61 million to disburse through the CWCA program. Therefore, PIDA is no longer accepting applications for the program at this time.

In the event that the program is reauthorized, and you have already submitted an application, SPC will continue to process your application at that time.

There are still funding options available through the federal government, and we have provided links to those programs below. We would encourage you to apply for federal funding through the appropriate agencies:

SBA Disaster Loan – https://disasterloan.sba.gov/

Thank you for your interest in the PIDA COVID-19 Working Capital Loan program. Below, please find a PDF of the documents you will need to submit in order to apply for a PIDA COVID 19 Working Capital Loan. There are quite a few documents here, so we advise that you first read the document titled “PIDA COVID-19 Working Capital Loan Application Instructions,” as that lays out, in detail everything you need to submit in order to apply for PIDA’s new loan program.

Once you have compiled and completed all of the necessary information, please attach your application to ONE email, and send it back to me at smeredith@spcregion.org.

As SPC’s staff is in a work from home status right now, please also feel free to email me with any questions that you may have as you work your way through the documents.

Thank you,
SPC Business Finance Staff

SBA EIDL/PPP/PIDA Webinars

Below please find a series links to some helpful webinars that contain information on the various federal and state government programs designed to assist businesses navigating the COVID-19 outbreak.  These webinars are hosted by the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center, and will be streaming live on YouTube daily, during the week of March 30 through April 3, 2020, from 9 am to 10:15 am.

PASBDC YouTube Main Page