Transit agency sets hearing for Carnegie parking garage
Ten years after it was first proposed, a park-and-ride garage adjacent to the Carnegie borough building is ready to move forward.
Port Authority and its consultant, Brean Associates, will hold a virtual public hearing Monday on plans to replace a 200-space surface lot with a four- or fivestory garage with about 400 spaces. Anyone who wants to attend the session should contact karen@breanassociates.com for a computer link or telephone connection to the meeting scheduled from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
The idea for the garage dates back to a 2010 study on the authority’s West Busway, a twolane, 5.1-mile roadway that ends at the borough building.
“We wanted a parking garage not only to encourage people to use the busway but to visit Carnegie and the business district there,” authority spokesman Adam Brandolph said. “We do know parking is at a premium in that area. Building a garage solves a lot of problems.”
The authority has a $6.4 million grant from the federal Department of Transportation’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program to pay for the garage. This project would not be held up by shortfalls in capital funds from Pennsylvania, Mr. Brandolph said, but the agency hasn’t set a timetable to begin construction.
The hearing will consider two options:
• Building the garage above the loop made by the G2 bus, with parkers entering on Logan Street via Veteran’s Way and buses passing under the garage.
• Building the garage close to the borough building and leaving the bus loop separate, with a drop-off area and the opportunity
to develop as much as 70,000 square feet on land the authority owns beside the bus loop.
“We’re not tipping our hand which option we prefer,” Mr. Brandolph said. “We want to get input from the community first.”
Carnegie officials say they’re happy the project is moving forward. Right now, there would be no charge for parking whether the motorist is catching a bus or visiting in Carnegie.
“It would be wonderful for that end of Carnegie,” said Joanne Letcher, executive director of the Carnegie Community Development Corp.
Phil Boyd, vice president of Carnegie Council, said he “can’t tell you how excited I am” to see the garage moving forward. Over the years, the borough has posted signs on numerous neighborhood streets to limit parking to two hours to prevent busway users from parking there, he said.
“More people use the busway than there is parking for, so the garage will help,” Mr. Boyd said. “And the transit-oriented development at that site could spark additional development in the western part of town.”
He also said the garage also could spur the borough’s effort to have the Panhandle Trail extended about 1.5 miles to Carnegie. Railroad tracks in that area haven’t been used for more than 10 years, he said, and joining the trail near the garage would be another boost for the borough.
Port Authority expects to choose the final design for the garage by the end of the year.