Investing in our Communities

We are stronger when we work together towards common goals and interests. Our organization collaborates with community partners across the region to create jobs, stimulate economic development, and enhance the quality of life for area residents. We are doing this through work that supports local communities. As part of this ongoing work, we are developing a Regional Climate Pollution Reduction Plan (CPRP) that covers all 10 counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The development of this plan is supported by a $1 million planning grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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Overview

The US EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) Program provides funding to develop and implement plans for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-reduction projects. The CPRG program includes two phases: Planning and Implementation.

Planning Phase

Ongoing and Active Efforts 

The planning phase aims to understand and address sources of climate pollution and emissions, as well as helping to identify high-priority GHG-reduction projects.

Climate Action Plan Documents

PCAP

• Completed March 2024
• Initial inventory of GHG emissions
• Emissions-reduction actions
• Includes analysis of planning and project benefits to communities in the region

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CCAP

• Due late-2025
• Comprehensive inventory of GHG emissions
• Emissions-reduction actions
• Workforce, low-income, and disadvantaged community benefits analyses

Plan Timeline

The CPRP timeline, outlined here, highlights key milestones illustrating the plan’s progress and overall lifecycle.

Public Engagement

Make Your Voice Heard!  

Join us in creating a regional climate plan that promotes high-quality jobs, economic growth, better health outcomes, and an enhanced quality of life.

We are collaborating with our region’s residents, businesses, and officials to ensure robust development of the CCAP. Various planning partners and stakeholders will be involved during the CCAP development phase.

The following information details the CPRP stakeholders:

Supporting Initiatives

CPRG Implementation Workshops and Focus Groups

In January 2024, we also hosted a Climate Pollution Reduction Implementation Grants Workshop to foster regional dialogue and collaboration on climate-related initiatives. Featured speakers included Partner4Work, PA DEP, and Sustainable Pittsburgh. Attendees received an introduction to the CPRG program, as well as an overview of the CPRG program’s workforce development requirements; other federal funding opportunities and potential partnerships were also discussed. 

In February 2024, our organization hosted four sector-based focus groups to research, coordinate, and prioritize projects for the Implementation Grant application. These sessions focused on workforce development, community benefits, building systems, transportation, and regional systems like waste management and agriculture. 

Upcoming Events

None currently. Please check back.

We want to hear from you!

Please share your thoughts by completing the Public Comment Form. If you have a community event and would like one of our team members to attend or speak about our ongoing CPRP efforts, please send us an email at cprg@spcregion.org.

The
Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) is announcing the launch of a new
project website and online mapping survey aimed at providing project
information and gathering the public’s input related to the Route 28 corridor
from Kittanning to Interstate 80 (I-80). 

SPC, in
partnership with the Northwest Pennsylvania Commission; North Central
Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission; Armstrong, Clarion
and Jefferson Counties; and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
Engineering District 10-0, initiated the study in December to identify
potential improvements along the approximately 40 mile stretch of Route 28
located in Armstrong, Clarion and Jefferson Counties.

The mapping survey is intended to gather information related to all modes of travel, potential improvement areas and detailed interests and concerns within the study area.  Survey participants will drop pins on the mapping and comment to indicate their areas of interest.  The survey will be active until March 6, 2020.  Results of the survey will be shared on the website. 

SPC and its partners have initiated this study to explore transportation improvement concepts that will improve safety and mobility between Interstate 80 and Kittanning, PA.  The study will include an extensive data collection effort to gather existing roadway, traffic, and safety data; future growth and traffic information; and public and stakeholder input.  With the results of the survey and technical data, the study team in coordination with the study’s Steering Committee, will identify improvement concepts that will vary in complexity and location throughout the corridor.  The study team will also place an emphasis on identifying potential funding available to implement the proposed improvement concepts.

The study website
will continue to keep the community informed and provide the overall study
goals, development process/schedule, and all draft and final reports. The
public is encouraged to sign up on the website to receive study updates as they
occur.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Caitlin O’Connor, Director of Public Relations and Communication Initiatives, 412.391.5590 or coconnor@spcregion.org

Ryan Gordon,
SPC Project Manager, 412.391.5590 or rgordon@spcregion.org.

John Petulla,
Consultant Project Manager, 412.922.6880 or jlpetulla@mccormicktaylor.com

SPC’s Local Technical Assistance Program’s mission is to share transportation knowledge, improve road maintenance and safety skills, and put research and new technology into practice at the local level. This is accomplished through free training and technical assistance.

Trainings are offered either as half-day or full-day courses. Workshop topics include: Winter Maintenance, Roadside Vegetation, etc.  Customized workshops can be provided at the request of a municipality or a group of municipalities.

Upcoming training topics include:

• Roadside Vegetation Control
• Curves On Local Roads: Issues and Safety
• Active Transportation
• Pavement Markings & Maintenance

View upcoming LTAP events

Contact Ryan Falcone at (412) 391-5590 X309 or rfalcone@spcregion.org to register.

All training is FREE to attend.

Everyone experienced the effects of climate change in some way this summer, Peter Boger said Monday afternoon.

“Whether that was smoke from the fires, or the flooding or with extreme heat,” said Boger, assistant director for outreach and engagement with Penn State Sustainability. “And we know these are going to be issues that continue to affect us here in Pennsylvania and worldwide, and yet at the same time, and this is an exciting moment of opportunity.

“There’s more money coming from the federal government around climate than ever before, and we’re seeing a lot more action at the federal, state and local levels.”

More than 150 people tuned in Monday afternoon for the first webinar of Commonwealth Sustainability Week, focused on efforts from state-level leadership to curb climate change. In its third year, and hosted by the state’s GreenGov Council and Penn State Sustainability, the weeklong event features daily, free webinars focused on climate change and sustainability efforts statewide.

“Hopefully, you see the theme — that we’re trying to raise awareness on climate and, really, our sustainability week is geared around climate actions and planning,” said Mark Hand, director of the GreenGov Council.

The webinar, “2023 Commonwealth Sustainability Week Kickoff — Sustainability Leadership,” included Cindy Adams Dunn, secretary of the Department of Conservation & Natural Resources, and Reggie McNeil, secretary of the Department of General Services. Richard Negrin, who heads the Department of Environmental Protection, was also scheduled to speak, but didn’t make the webinar. Hand said he was “tied up in another meeting.”

All serve as co-chairs for the council.

‘Cooling down the streets is critical’

The hour-long event was structured like a panel. Officials explained how their departments work to address climate change and sustainability issues before answering questions. The first question asked the panelists to share near-term climate actions that can be accomplished across the state, as well as their biggest concerns.

“Every parking lot, every rooftop I see, I feel like should have solar on it,” Dunn said. “ … So getting solar everywhere it can be, and overcoming the barriers to that policy-wise, legislatively and it costs-wise, but the investment certainly [would] be worth it in the long run.”

She also mentioned efforts to add more trees, especially in cities, where “tree cover is essential.”

“If you can get shade on streets and houses, it makes a tremendous difference in urban heat and that can save lives,” she said. “Urban heat is a killer in the summertime. So, getting our urban and suburban areas forest-covered is critical to reduce energy bills, but also to save lives and create cover

“After summer like we had, and it’s only going one direction from here right now — cooling down the streets is critical.”

Audience members were also able to submit their own questions. One asked what other state departments are working towards sustainability goals.

Closing trail gaps around the state is a major focus for other departments, including PennDOT, Dunn said. Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River Trail was built through grants, as well as funding from PennDOT and private funding, she said.

Bike commuters can use the trail “as opposed to sitting on the Schuylkill Expressway in traffic and belching exhaust.”

“In the Allentown area as well,” she continued. “There’s a link trail that’s aiming to really provide active transportation. Again, DCNR with our grants on trails has been a key partner there, as have the other agencies.”

The Link Trail connects multi-use trails across the Valley for year-round outdoor recreation and transportation.

“Getting vehicles off the road [and] getting people on trails to connect, even local errands,” she said. I was just in Hellertown a couple of years ago, when we completed a trail there, and people were using their bikes to go to the store.”

Another question dealt with severe weather events, asking if the secretaries see an opportunity to rebuild any damage using more sustainable techniques.

“If we rebuild or renovate anything, we are going to use the most energy-efficient equipment, the most green materials that are out there.”
Reggie McNeil, secretary of the state Department of General Services
“If we rebuild or renovate anything, we are going to use the most energy-efficient equipment, the most green materials that are out there,” McNeil said.

Only a handful of the more than a dozen questions submitted by the audience were answered, but Hand encouraged participants to register for future webinars throughout the week.

The schedule of webinars this week includes:

• Preparing for a Changing Climate: Building a Resilient Pennsylvania
• Join the Movement – PA Climate Network Participation & Training Opportunities
• Building the Workforce of Tomorrow
• Fostering Resilient Communities – Local Climate Action and Planning

A Lehigh Valley official is scheduled to speak as a panelist during Friday’s webinar, “Fostering Resilient Communities.”

Becky A. Bradley, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, is scheduled to discuss “how climate planning leads to more resilient communities.”

Other speakers include Michael Walsh, deputy secretary of the state’s Department of Conservation & Natural Resources; Lindsay A. Byron, an environmental group manager in the energy programs office of the state Department of Environmental Protection; and Cathy Tulley, environmental programs manager of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

“The session provides an opportunity to hear what state and local government planners are working on to address climate change and how we can get involved with local planning and developing local climate priorities.”

“We’ll have a great set of presenters representing a combination of state and local governments to discuss local climate action and planning,” Hand said. “The session provides an opportunity to hear what state and local government planners are working on to address climate change and how we can get involved with local planning and developing local climate priorities.”

Earlier this year, the LVPC announced the receipt of a $1 million infusion of federal funds earmarked to create two separate climate action plans over the next four years.

Officials must create a Priority Climate Action Plan, focused on industrial decarbonization, as well as a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan. The former is due March 1, while the latter is expected to be adopted in August 2025, officials said during a recent meeting of the commission’s Environmental Committee.

Register for any of this week’s webinars here. They will also be recorded and posted on the GreenGov Council’s website.

View the full article at lehighvalleynews.com

“Planning for operations” encompasses a variety of activities that planners and transportation system operators collaborate on in order to maximize the efficiency of the transportation system and to ensure that transportation services are delivered in as safe, reliable, and secure a manner as possible. In addition to having many congestion mitigation and system efficiency benefits, planning for operations is required under Federal law.

SPC developed the region’s first Regional Operations Plan (ROP) in
2007. This plan documents the region’s approach to operational
activities and seeks to identify how to optimize the existing
transportation system. SPC provided updates to this plan in 2011 and
2015 and has subsequently mainstreamed the ROP into its Long Range
Transportation Plan (LRTP) process each time.

Statewide operational planning has evolved based on federal guidelines and knowledge development. In 2018, PennDOT developed the Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Guidebook which is the statewide approach used to optimize the operational performance of existing infrastructure. Utilizing this new guideline, SPC updated the ROP in 2019. The seven priority areas identified in previous ROP versions remain in the 2019 update. They are:

• Traffic Signals
• Incident and Emergency Management
• Traveler Information
• Operational Teamwork/Institutional Coordination
• Multimodal Connectivity
• Freeway and Arterial Operations
• Freight Management

With assistance from SPC’s member Planning Departments, PennDOT’s Engineering Districts, the PennDOT Bureau of Maintenance and Operations (BOMO), the ten regional transit operators and other regional stakeholders, the 2019 ROP was completed utilizing a series of workshops over a six month period. Through this collaborative process, the 2019 ROP developed over 60 proposed projects, studies, and initiatives.

This ROP recognizes that three important ways to optimize the existing transportation network are to incorporate intelligent systems, improve management of incidents and events, and encourage modal shift.

• 2019 Regional Operations Plan

Planners have identified 123 road, bridge and transportation improvements needed in southwestern Pennsylvania, and said a list of priority projects — including a handful in Westmoreland County — will be adopted by next summer.

The Southwest Pennsylvania Commission, or SPC, and PennDOT on Wednesday afternoon outlined proposals that could be part of the next four-year transportation improvement plan for the 10-county region.

Among the projects considered are construction of a new ramps to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Penn and Mt. Pleasant townships, continuation of the long-discussed Laurel Valley connector and major road improvements along Route 30.

Read the full story at Trib Live

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission has a new tool to encourage communities in the 10-county region to develop multimodal transit centers.

The computerized storymap uses relatively new technology to identify more than three dozen locations where centers could be set up to provide services for people who use trails, bikes, cars, buses and trains to move throughout the region. Dave Totten, an SPC transportation planner, unveiled the tool at an advisory committee meeting last week.

“There are clusters where we can develop multimodel operations in every county,” Mr. Totten said. “Every place has locations that could use a multimodal center.”

The tool, which identifies what elements each site could develop for its multimodal center, is an outgrowth of 18 months of work on a report titled “SmartMoves Connections: A Regional Vision for Public Transit.” The commission is expected to adopt the $230,000 report, funded partially with a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, later this year.

Mr. Totten said the agency decided there was no reason to keep officials from using the tool immediately. The ultimate goal is to develop a coordinated system to get people from, say, Kittanning to Pittsburgh with easy transfers and perhaps paying only one fare.

For now, the tool is available for planners to identify potential locations for multimodal centers. The next step will be for SPC to work directly with officials to help develop those sites and identify sources of additional funding.

Read the full story at https://www.post-gazette.com/

On Friday June 4th at 9am SPC will host the Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee for a public hearing on reforms and investments to advance transportation innovations in Pennsylvania. In person attendance limited to media only but all others can attend virtually:

https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/cteeInfo/Index.cfm?CteeBody=S&Code=19

The U.S. Department of Transportation will announce a five-step program Thursday to reduce an unexpected spike in traffic deaths during the pandemic with a goal of eliminating them in the future.

The program, called the National Roadway Safety Strategy, marks a major shift in the department’s approach by recognizing that drivers make mistakes and will supplement educational efforts with safer roadway designs, vehicle technology improvements and better care for accident victims. Department officials briefed the news media Wednesday on the strategy that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to announce in Washington, D.C., at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

Mr. Buttigieg announced in October his department would spend the rest of the year developing a strategy to reduce traffic deaths after estimates through the second quarter of 2021 showed the highest percentage increase since the Fatality Analysis Reporting System began in 1975. An estimated 20,160 died in the first half of 2021, an 18.4% increase over the previous year, and the fatality rate increased to 1.34 fatalities per 100 million miles driven from 1.28.

That continued a trend that began with the start of the pandemic in early 2020 when reduced traffic apparently led some drivers to increase their speed substantially, resulting in more accidents. As the pandemic has worn on, officials say there also has been an increase in dangerous behavior such as impaired and distracted driving and reduced use of seat belts.

The higher speeds have resulted in more deaths and more serious injuries from unbelted drivers being thrown from vehicles.

The department said the 42-page strategy takes what it calls a “safe system approach” that tries to improve driver performance but builds in design and other safety improvements when drivers come up short.

Read the full story at https://www.post-gazette.com/

There are only ten days left for the public to take a survey being conducted by the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission, the ten-county transportation planning authority for our region.

The survey on public transit seeks information on riding habits such as the frequency you ride, and your demographics. It also asks about payment methods, including a question about what you would do if you were not able to use cash to pay your bus fare.

You can take the poll by visiting the Indiana County Officer of Planning & Development’s website, icopd.org. The deadline is May 31st. The SPC conducted a public meeting on Indiana County’s transportation needs and plans recently at PA Careerlink, on Indian Springs Road.

View the full article at wccsradio.com