The Port Authority has opened the Overbrook light-rail line that replaced the old streetcar line that replaced railroad passenger and coal trains that once shared the tracks hugging the hills along Routes 51 and 88.
The Overbrook line is a misnomer, however, because it provides little good service to Overbrook. Maybe that's why the authority has renamed the 42Library as the 47Library via Overbrook and why the 42S South Hills Village will become the 47L South Hills Village via Overbrook this fall.
"As an Overbrook resident, I am amazed by the name," Colleen Englert said via e-mail last week, disappointed there is only one stop left in the neighborhood where people had been able to conveniently hop a streetcar or a train for 130 years.
"The McNeilly stop is a joke," she said. "No one can get there. There are no sidewalks, nowhere to park your car and a ton of steps" to walk to the hillside station. "A lot of senior citizens would like to ride, not to mention all the working-class people who need transportation to town."
When the Port Authority rebuilt the 5.2-mile Overbrook line between Castle Shannon and South Hills Junction, it replaced 22 small "walk-on" stops with eight stations to build badly needed speed into what I've criticized for so long as light-snail transit.
What Englert says is true. The station above the Route 88-McNeilly Road intersection is the only one convenient to Overbrook residents, as inconvenient as it is.
A light-rail station at the Route 51-88 intersection would have been a good choice. But authority spokeswoman Judi McNeil said, "It would have been almost physically impossible," requiring more steps than McNeilly, probably an elevator to comply with federal requirements to make transit accessible for handicapped and infirm riders, and with no parking at that location, either.
She pointed out that Overbrook residents had good bus service as a result of the South Busway, which parallels the light-rail line through part of the city neighborhood.
So, Judi, why does the Port Authority still call it the Overbrook line? Why not call it the Suburban Line?
"Overbrook is a historic name and we wanted to keep it," McNeil said.
Even with the via.
Mall Maze. Too many things happening at the same time around South Hills Village Mall are challenging drivers and light-rail riders.
"They've blocked off parking spaces, created detours to nowhere and made everything generally a huge mess," lawyer Eric T. Smith e-mailed. "You really have to see it to believe it."
Dear Eric and others with the same complaint:
The Port Authority is paying $63,700 to the Simon Properties Group Inc. to lease 600 spaces in the Lazarus-Macy's lot for use by T park-n-riders displaced by construction of a seven-story, 2,200-space, park-and-ride garage. Before it issued a building permit, Bethel Park officials demanded the authority make a number of road improvements, also under way.
Meanwhile, Simon Properties is doing work, including expanding the food court and renovating the mall interior. Contractors are taking up parking spaces for their workers, equipment and materials.
Commuters using Route 19 north are unhappy because intersection widening prohibits them from making a right turn onto Village Drive. Work also has restricted Fort Couch Road on the other side of the mall.
Upsides: You better believe the mall work will be done in time for the Christmas $hopping $eason. The new parking garage remains on schedule. And I'm hearing the Port Authority will charge $1 a day to park there.
Lord & Taylor. A 13-month-old dog trained to detect explosives began routine patrols on the Port Authority's bus-trolley system last week.
The dog's name is Lord. They say he's a Hungarian shepherd, but he looks German to me. Lord has been teamed with police Officer Brian O'Malley, who's been on the authority force for six years.
Special grants used to buy and train Lord also will be used for his "maintenance." Because two can live cheaper than one, he'll share O'Malley's home. In addition to transit patrols, the two will be assigned to occasional security details at Pittsburgh International Airport.
The federal Office of Homeland Security has asked transit agencies across the United States to step up anti-terrorism efforts to safeguard riders. As a result, it may give the Port Authority money for another bomb-sniffing dog.
Authority Chief of Staff Jason Fincke has suggested the second dog be named Taylor. "This way, we'll still have a Lord and Taylor in Pittsburgh," he said.
Woof!
Believe it! The amount of concrete used to build the nation's interstate highway system could build a 9-foot-thick, 50-foot-high wall around the equator.
Plate du jour. Colleague Susan Mannella spotted the Pennsylvania personalized license plate LQQKIE on an SUV traveling on Banksville Road. Qute.
First Published: June 13, 2004, 4:00 a.m.