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The LRT must connect with the convention center. And the Fort Wayne Bridge can indeed be used
Thursday, March 16, 2000
By George R. White
The good news is that Light Rail Transit will be extended to the North Shore, linking development there to the Golden Triangle. The bad news is that the plan favored by the Port Authority - an extension from the Gateway Center station, via a tunnel under the Allegheny River at Stanwix Street - is not the best one.
The alternative is an extension from Steel Plaza, headed straight for the convention center. The trains would cross the river over a new bridge at 11th Street. State Sen. Jack Wagner, D-Beechview, is among those who believe that it is flat wrong to exclude the convention center from an LRT extension. He favors the Steel Plaza alternative, with one significant difference - using the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge instead of building a new bridge. He sees the cost savings as significant. But Port Authority Executive Director Paul Skoutelas rejects that idea, saying that it is simply not feasible to use the existing bridge.
The Port Authority, unfortunately, is wrong. It could indeed use the Fort Wayne Bridge, which no longer suffers any engineering disqualification.
The decision matters a great deal to the economic health of the city and the region: We are making a huge investment in the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center and North Shore development. We must provide a direct public transportation link between the two, as well as tie the convention center into the LRT system.
The key conflict over using the Fort Wayne Bridge was recently resolved. Trucks need to reach the loading dock at the northeast corner of the convention center, while Fort Wayne Bridge LRT tracks would need the same space to access the lower deck. But a decision has been taken that truck access will be at the western edge of the center, Garrison Way. This frees the lower deck space for a lovely and effective LRT station right at the convention center's front corner.
The other engineering concern is refurbishing the bridge's lower deck, unmaintained for 20 years. This is clearly no deal-breaker, being less costly than a new bridge. The remaining anxieties are over relations with bridge owner Norfolk Southern on maintenance, rents, accidents and insurance. These are items for satisfactory negotiation - not physical prohibitions to Fort Wayne Bridge use.
Using the Fort Wayne Bridge's lower deck enables the existence of five valuable Downtown LRT stations omitted by the Gateway alternative: Penn Station, Heinz History Center, Convention Center, Anderson Street and PNC Park/North Shore Garage. The South Side would connect with all these stations directly via the existing Y-trackage at Steel Plaza to Penn Station. But the Gateway and Wood Street stations can also have North Shore access by using a switchback. (The car stops past Steel Plaza on a third pocket track, the motorman walks to the other end, then backs through the switch thrown to the other arm of the Y-track, and proceeds beyond.)
The benefits from these Fort Wayne Five are massive. Penn Station would provide all East Busway riders with intimate transfers to both North Shore and Gateway LRT cars.
The Heinz History Center Station at the north edge of Smallman Street would serve not only the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, but also the Boardwalk amenities, Penn Avenue offices and a massive Strip District parking lot. Long-term development on that lot would be provided with the strongest possible incentive - superior public transit.
The Convention Center station serves this crown jewel of Plan B conveniently and attractively. Architect Rafael Vinoly can certainly design an LRT station that would do justice to his creation.
The Anderson Street Station would provide pedestrian access to the North Shore offices (SMS, Alcoa, Timber Court) and ties the 240 apartments on Anderson into Downtown.
The PNC Park/North Shore Garage Station at the corner of General Robinson and Federal streets would serve triply, as the major transit entry to baseball, as a Golden Triangle park-n-ride connection from the new adjacent North Shore garage, and as pedestrian access to the Andy Warhol Museum, stores, restaurants and offices of the North Shore district.
Details for the Fort Wayne Five case are largely documented already, particularly the Parsons Brinckerhoff Engineering Memorandum "Fourteenth Street Subway" (December 1995), which details the inexpensive tunnel under tracks and roadways from Penn Station to Heinz History Center Station north of Smallman. That memo shows explicitly how the need for loading dock truck access had cramped LRT lower-deck access, and led to an unacceptable parking lot placement of the Convention Center station. It shows implicitly the opportunity for the convention center architects to use the truckless space available.
Now a 475-foot radius of curvature trackage can bridge over 11th Street from Etna Street (Strip lot feeder) past the Norfolk Southern abutment and columns (overhead railroad train supports) to make a beautiful transit presentation right to the terrace and front door of the convention center.
A 45-day commentary period with public hearings is planned by the Port Authority. Then it will submit its final decision to the Federal Transit Administration for approval. The Port Authority should include this Fort Wayne Five alternative as the third for public consideration. Maxwell King, executive director of Heinz Endowment (a leading transit sponsor), says the foundation supports community-wide varieties of transit to North Shore and Golden Triangle amenities, museums as well as stadiums.
Possibly the views of Sen. Wagner - that the convention center and existing facilities not be abandoned by the Gateway route - will attract public support. The Fort Wayne Five might well win.
George R. White is a member of County Executive Jim Roddey's Transition Committee on Transportation. He retired in 1994 as director of the Transportation Systems Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh. He lives Downtown. 