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Thursday, May 10, 2001
I had a guy come to my house the other day and show me how to save $40 million. Beat that, Ed McMahon.
Brian Nogrady of Edgewood came into my dining room with an honest-to-goodness slide show. Nogrady is nothing but a concerned citizen, but he spends endless hours analyzing transit moves. By the time Nogrady packed up his stuff and went home, he'd convinced me of at least one thing: The Port Authority's $389 million design for light rail to the North Shore takes a wrong turn.
Instead of heading west toward the Carnegie Science Center, the light rail should continue north another half-mile or so. Make the destination Federal Street and North Avenue, the crossroads of the North Side. You lose the science center crowd, but you pick up much more.
You'd still serve the stadium crowds and students attending Community College of Allegheny County. It would cost significantly more, but you can bet your autographed picture of Ralph Kramden that the cost per rider would go down.
I say that as a resident of Allegheny West, the city's smallest neighborhood and the closest one to the western T stop as currently designed. There's nothing in this for me, other than wanting my state, county and federal taxes invested in the best possible way.
Why do the plans for this rail line have it hooking left?
"There was no great hue and cry to go straight," said Mark Fatla, an Allegheny West resident who attended some of the transit meetings that went on for years. "We'd rather have a left turn than nothing, and if we insisted on going straight, we might get zero."
Ed Brandt, director of the North Side Conference, said, "There's no question that if it came north, it would serve more of the community."
But, said Ray Meyer, president of the conference, "It's not like your HO train set where you can just say, 'Hey, let's go this way.' "
Admittedly, my argument comes very late -- but perhaps not too late -- in the game. The most expensive part of this project will be taking light rail under the Allegheny River, from Gateway Center to the North Shore. The first T stop planned for just west of PNC Park could serve either option.
So as that gets under way, there ought to be time for city and county officials to re-examine this and make sure it's the optimum design. The current plan will help spur development of the North Shore, which is no small thing, but that could never provide the ridership a northward thrust would.
Paul Skoutelas, the Port Authority chief, estimated that the part of this project I'm looking to ditch here would cost $40 million to $50 million. (Hence the savings mentioned at the top of the column.) A northward thrust would cost much more than that, because it would have to be underground, but Skoutelas wouldn't hazard a guess how much it would cost.
Skoutelas offered soothing arguments about plans to take light rail northward at some indefinite time in the future, and said the western route affords staging areas near the West End Bridge where extra cars could be stored to accommodate stadium crowds. Such staging areas likely would need to be underground on a northward route, which would add to the expense.
Yes, and building this in an open field would be easiest and least expensive of all. The best place for mass transit, though, is amid the masses.
Brian O'Neill's e-mail address is boneill@post-gazette.com
Allegheny General and Mercy Providence hospitals. Allegheny Center, with thousands of workers and residents. The Children's Museum. Allegheny Traditional Academy, a city magnet school. The Mexican War Streets/Central North Side. Connections to a dozen bus lines in all directions.