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.

Distribution of a Public Survey Tool to Inform a Vision for Multimodal Transportation in Southwestern Pennsylvania 

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) has launched an online survey to collect opinions about public transit in the region. This survey is part of the project SmartMoves Connections: A Regional Vision for Public Transit, which is planning for future Multimodal Hubs and Multimodal Corridors.

The survey is primarily map-based and includes a process that will guide the survey taker through a series of questions that correspond with choices and locations shown on the map. SPC worked with the Pittsburgh-based firm, CivicMapper, to create the brief survey, which includes questions about mobility choices and priorities.

The survey will be open through September, 2020. The results will be incorporated into the SmartMoves Connections study where it will help project planners to identify and prioritize multimodal projects and policies to improve connections within and across the counties.

After more than eight months of research, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission wants to hear from residents in the 10-county region about where they want to go and how public transit could help them get there.

The agency is conducting an online survey through September as part of a study that will recommend a series of intermodal hubs or corridors to help transit agencies work together better. Dave Totten, a transportation planner for the commission, said it wants to hear from residents regardless of whether they currently use public transit.

“We want to hear from everyone about where they want to go so we can look at how we can get them there,” Mr. Totten said. “What we’re trying to focus on is where all these [transit systems] can connect. All 10 counties have possibilities.”

The ultimate goal would be for a commuter in an outlying county to pay one fare and follow one schedule to travel to Pittsburgh or some other central location even if they have to transfer several times to reach their destination.

“We want to hear from everyone about where they want to go so we can look at how we can get them there,” Mr. Totten said. “What we’re trying to focus on is where all these [transit systems] can connect. All 10 counties have possibilities.”

Read the full article at post-gazette.com

Most of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been negative: high unemployment, business closures, transportation agencies reeling from revenue losses due to low traffic.

But a seven-page study released Thursday claims there’s one area where Americans have benefited dramatically: Working from home instead of driving to work has saved more than $90 billion in time and actual costs since the pandemic began in March.

Upwork — a Mountain View, Calif., agency that specializes in matching freelance professionals with temporary jobs — concluded that working remotely has become so popular during the pandemic that many people won’t return to driving and the national economy will go through a major shift in the next couple of years. Adam Ozimek, the agency’s chief economist, said he expects Americans to spend the money saved on commuting in other areas such as eating out more often, home improvements or more lavish vacations.

In a survey of 1,000 people, Mr. Ozimek said he found people now working from home previously commuted 46.3 minutes a day to get to work and back. Extrapolated across the country, that translates to Americans spending about 32.9 million hours less each day commuting and eliminating the pollution that comes from 890 million miles driven each day.

Using the standard average cost of 20.54 cents per mile for operating a car, Americans are saving $183 million a day in commuting costs. In time, valued at $12.50 an hour, the savings amounts to $411 million a day.

Since the start of the pandemic in mid-March, that amounts to just over $90.9 billion or an average of about $2,000 for each person who previously drove to work…

Read the full article at Post-Gazette.com

Amtrak’s proposal to add another Pittsburgh-to-Harrisburg daily round-trip train in about three years is good news to Sharon Calloway of Uniontown, a frequent traveler on the Pennsylvanian train from Greensburg to New York City, where she works.

“It would be nice to have more than one option,” said Calloway, who often travels back home to Uniontown, where she still maintains her residence.

“If you don’t get this train, you don’t get to New York,” said Calloway, as she waited one recent morning to board the Pennsylvanian at 8 a.m. in Greensburg.

The proposal for another daily round-trip train between Pittsburgh and New York City is projected for the fiscal year from October 2023 through September 2024, in the Pennsylvania State Rail Plan 2020. That plan was developed by PennDOT from fall 2019 through fall 2020 with input from state and local officials, freight carriers, commuter rail providers, Amtrak and rail passenger organizations.

Virtual public hearings on the rail plan, detailed in a 338-page report, will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. Monday and 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The hearings will include one-hour sessions that present an overview of the updated draft state rail plan developed from fall 2019 through fall 2020 which reflects conditions before the covid-19 pandemic, said Ashley Schoch, a PennDOT spokeswoman.

In addition to providing much better access for people traveling to Pittsburgh and from Harrisburg and points east along the Pennsylvanian, increasing efficient, multimodal options for travelers would have a positive impact on connectivity, mobility and economic vitality, as well as decreasing highway congestion and improving air quality in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region and across the state, said Andrew Waple, director of transportation planning for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, the Pittsburgh regional organization that offered input on the plan.

Read the full article at TribeLive.com

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission during their April 26th board meeting unanimously approved the Draft 2021 Public Participation Plan which is an update to the 2015 Public Participation Plan. The approved 2021 Public Participation Plan provides an outline of the tools and techniques we use to inform and engage the public throughout our transportation planning and programming processes.

Follow the link below to view the update plan:

2020 was a challenging year for everyone, and SPC was no exception. But still, In the midst of collective uncertainly, bright spots surfaced. This short video showcases the both the obstacles we faced and the successes that SPC delivered in transportation planning, economic development and small business assistance, GIS, communications and finance. From assisting several small businesses with crucial grants and loans, to developing the TIP virtually, and helping our partners move forward, we delivered.

the countermove – spc 2020 annual report

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

Browse a wide selection of prebuilt tables containing data related to Population, Housing, Economy, Transportation, and our Cycle 12 Forecast.

NOTE: The Prebuilt Tables contain a variety of data from several sources. Users should be mindful of these sources when examining data in the Prebuilt Tables for the Pittsburgh MSA. MSAs are often subject to change in definitions and geographic extent. For example, the Pittsburgh MSA, during the 2020 census, was defined as the 7 counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland. The federal OMB has since redefined the Pittsburgh MSA to also include Lawrence County.

The new definition was used by the Census Bureau for the 2019-2023 ACS and the 2020-2024 Census Estimates of Population and Housing. Pittsburgh MSA data (7 counties) from the 2020 Census should not be compared to the Pittsburgh MSA data (8 counties) from the 2019-2023 ACS or the 2020-2024 Census Estimates of Population and Housing. Users should also note the 7 county Pittsburgh MSA from the 2020 Census was used retroactively to calculate historical data from prior censuses. In reality, the Pittsburgh MSA experienced a wide range of changes in definitions from 1950 (first year MSAs were defined) to 2020.

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