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Op-Ed Column: Go east, light rail The LRT system will grow. Don't isolate the east of Pittsburgh by giving us a longer busway instead -- invest in a complete system Wednesday, June 17, 1998 Jonathan D. Hill and Charles J. Martoni
When the Port Authority designed and built the East Busway running from Downtown Pittsburgh to Wilkinsburg, it did so with the express representation that it was designed and built to be converted to Light Rail Transit. It is time to effectuate that conversion and tie the eastern portion of Allegheny County to the system built and being built to the southern portions of Allegheny County and to the North Shore of Pittsburgh.
Over the past few months the Port Authority has announced ambitious plans to expand and upgrade Allegheny County's popular LRT system in the South Hills and extend it to the North Shore from the Downtown subway at a total cost of about three-quarters of a billion dollars.
The LRT expansion is designed to complement some of the region's other major initiatives, such as the new baseball and football stadiums, the expansion of the Convention Center and development of several other important Downtown projects totaling well over a billion dollars in public and private investment. Significantly, the light-rail initiative will result in the first major expansion of PAT's LRT system, known as the "T," in more than a decade.
We in the eastern part of Allegheny County welcome these developments and we want to be a part of the dramatic changes happening Downtown and elsewhere in the county.
But we also feel that the region needs a long-range transit plan. Instead of a series of sometimes unrelated projects, PAT needs to develop a comprehensive long-range plan that includes the expansion of the light-rail system to give all residents of Allegheny County -- not just those living and working in the South Hills -- equal access to the Downtown developments now taking place.
The current light-rail expansion plans are a great opportunity to develop a unified, regional transit system based on PAT's successful light-rail system. A cost-effective first step toward achieving this goal is to expand LRT in the near future to the eastern communities of Allegheny County as part of a comprehensive revitalization strategy for the region.
Area officials and residents have long urged PAT to consider extending light rail to the east. We are now stepping up our efforts to make this a reality before PAT spends many millions of dollars extending the current busway.
If the busway is extended, it will segregate the eastern communities from the growing LRT system and its economic benefits for at least another generation.
PAT officials have admitted that light rail to the east is a good alternative but suggest that they lack the support. We disagree.
There is already a consensus among many of the key communities and elected officials in our area that we want to be a part of the light-rail future in Allegheny County. Eight eastern Allegheny County municipalities have thus far joined in unanimously passing resolutions calling for the extension of light rail through their communities instead of the busway extension.
Extending the LRT from Downtown Pittsburgh along the East Busway right-of-way would, for the first time, allow residents of Pittsburgh's East End and the county's eastern suburbs access to the LRT system in Downtown, Station Square, the South Hills, the planned extension to the North Shore and possibly, in the not-too-distant-future, the Pittsburgh International Airport and even the North Hills.
In converting the East Busway -- which is fast approaching the point that it will require major reinvestment to maintain its usability -- we envision an LRT system that would extend from the Downtown subway along the railroad corridor to Keystone Commons in East Pittsburgh. As the system develops, it would logically extend to Monroeville Mall, Kennywood and farther into the Mon Valley.
Light rail would also accommodate the Main Line Park concept (MLP) that proposes the shared use of the corridor for the creation of a tree-lined bicycle trail and series of small community parks for the eastern communities from East Liberty through Wilkinsburg, Turtle Creek and beyond.
Regionally, the MLP would form a critical link connecting the Monongahela and Allegheny River rail-trails to complete a unique 22-mile greenway around the city of Pittsburgh. PAT should accommodate this concept because construction of PAT's current busway plans will forever eliminate this one-time opportunity for our region.
The LRT system was designed and built to be extended out the East Busway, with a track -- now virtually unused -- extending from the Steel Plaza station to a T platform at Penn Station at the end of the East Busway. Furthermore, according to PAT, the East Busway was built to be converted to light rail. With the right-of-way, appropriate clearances and grading already in place, conversion would be straightforward.
According to Federal Transit Administration information, other large transit agencies building light rail and experts we have consulted, the average cost of at-grade (no tunnels, no bridges) LRT is $20 million per mile, including all the vehicles and support facilities.
This is substantially less than the capital costs for PAT's busways, which do not include buses. A recent U.S. General Accounting Office report analyzing several current light-rail projects confirm these numbers. Operating costs are also substantially lower for light rail than for bus systems, according to FTA data.
As it has already in the South Hills, light rail will attract many new riders to the PAT system, and will easily surpass the current busway system which has failed to live up to early predictions. Overall, PAT has lost nearly 50 percent of bus ridership over the last 15 years, according to data submitted to the FTA.
Expanding the T would also dramatically cut the bus congestion that occurs on the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg. This has been a problem that the city of Pittsburgh and its Downtown businesses have been pressing PAT to address.
An obvious factor in light rail's soaring popularity here in the South Hills and around the nation is that it is clean and quiet. Because they are electrified, light-rail vehicles emit just a fraction of the pollutants that buses do, even on a per-passenger-mile basis, according to statistics from the American Public Transit Association (APTA). With very low noise levels, none of the thousands of feet of concrete noise walls planned for the busway by PAT would be needed.
While buses would remain an integral part of PAT's system, PAT would begin to move away from its emphasis on exclusive busways and join the national trend in two dozen cities to focus on light rail as the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly form of transit available today.
Notably, despite two decades of experience, not one American city has tried to copy PAT's exclusive busway concept. By focusing on the T, PAT would choose the one true system, with all stations seamlessly linked by a common set of tracks.
In developing a comprehensive plan for light rail in the east, the Port Authority would find strong support from these and many other communities in the area. PAT would create a system that would serve as a catalyst for more stable and vibrant neighborhoods through a higher quality of life and an improved business climate.
Light rail would contribute to the economic redevelopment of one of the most deserving parts of Allegheny County while benefiting all the residents of Allegheny County.
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