With a master plan vote looming, Don Barden tried yesterday to address the concerns of some major North Shore neighbors regarding his casino's impact on their operations.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mr. Barden, who heads PITG Gaming LLC, offered to pay for improvements aimed at alleviating Carnegie Science Center concerns about school bus access, pedestrian safety, casino lighting and other issues.

He also pledged to study the casino's impact on game day traffic at Heinz Field and PNC Park, but not on the same timetable the Steelers and the Pirates want. They want the study done before the master plan is approved.

At the same time, he accused the Steelers of being "obstructionists" and argued that their concerns about traffic were a "smokescreen" to prevent competition from the casino.

Mr. Barden extended the offers as the city planning commission prepares to vote Tuesday on the casino master plan, a first step toward construction.

Science center Director Joanna Haas said Mr. Barden's proposals did not go far enough and accused him of "cherry picking" from the center's proposed mitigation measures.

"Until we see some concrete demonstration that he hears our concerns and respects our concerns in their entirety and is willing to remediate those concerns, we can't change our posture at this point," she said.

The science center fears the casino, which will abut its property, will eliminate or severely restrict the route school buses use to get into its site to drop off students, potentially affecting one-third of its business.

It also has concerns about the safety of pedestrians crossing North Shore Drive at Allegheny Avenue with the additional casino traffic, and the potential for bright casino lights to shut down its observatory, which already closes for Steelers night games.

To address the concern about access, Mr. Barden offered to widen a service road at the western edge of the science center property so that buses could still get into the site and to pave and line a science center lot on the other side of North Shore Drive for bus parking.

He said he won't install a traffic light at the spot as the center wants, saying the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation won't allow it because the traffic volume isn't high enough. If the science center can convince PennDOT otherwise, he said, he will pay for the signal.

Mr. Barden also pledged more signs and pedestrian markings and to modify the light on North Shore Drive at Allegheny Avenue to improve safety for people who go between the science center and the UPMC SportsWorks complex.

He refused to fund the pedestrian tunnel or overpass the science center wants, saying that request "makes no sense" given the potential plans to vacate that section of road.

He promised landscaping that would act as a buffer between the casino and science center and to work with architects to ensure "to the fullest extent we can that we will not adversely impact their observatory."

Mr. Barden said he planned today to provide Ms. Haas with written commitments on the improvements, which he estimated would cost several million dollars.

Ms. Haas said the center will ask the planning commission Tuesday to impose the center's proposed mitigations as conditions in the master plan. Mr. Barden said he also will submit his proposed mitigating measures to the commission for a decision. He said he is finished negotiating.

"We stepped forward with very meaningful mitigating measures. For her to reject them out of hand is outrageous," he said. "She wants me to agree to everything and we're not agreeing to everything. We're not going to put a tunnel under the street. The zoning doesn't require that."

Mr. Barden said that the game day traffic issue raised by the sports teams has been "greatly blown out of proportion," arguing that it is not a problem in St. Louis or Detroit. He accused the Steelers of using the issue to prevent competition on the North Shore.

"They probably don't want anything to go there so they can develop the land between the two stadiums. So I think they are selfishly motivated. They want to control development there and all the money that goes with it. It's all about the money," he said.

Steelers President Art Rooney II declined comment yesterday.

Pirates' Chief Executive Officer Kevin McClatchy said his team's concerns are real. He said the Pirates have estimated it could take fans an hour to 90 minutes longer to get to and from heavily attended games once the casino opens.