Park-n-ride lot will not be closing immediately, despite email alert

Parkers will have 60-day notice

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Port Authority parkn-ride lot near the Castle Shannon light-rail station won’t be closing any time soon, despite some reports on social media.

An email from a local legislator and a post on the Facebook page of the Mt. Lebanon Magazine announced that the lot used daily by hundreds of commuters would be closing Aug. 8 for a year, while construction begins on a residential complex attached to the transit station.

And while the lot will eventually be closed for a year for the $43.2 million Shannon Transit Village, a Port Authority spokesman said commuters will be given ample warning before the closure.

There are no immediate plans to close the lot, spokesman Jim Ritchie said.

“They have to allow us a 60-day notification period before work begins,” Mr. Ritchie said of an agreement between the Port Authority and the developer, JRA Development Group. “We don’t know when construction will begin.”

Once the Port Authority receives that notification, it will pass the information on to commuters right away, he said.

Plans call for the development to include an eightstory apartment building with 152 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor.

The current 507-space parking lot will be replaced with a four-story parking deck with 563 spaces.

Once the lot closes, commuters will be encouraged to find parking at other Port Authority facilities, including South Hills Village, which charges $2 a day for parking.

Tuesday’s confusion began with an email blast from state Rep. Dan Miller, who said his information came from an outdated notice from the Port Authority. It was included in a monthly news update he provides constituents and local officials.

“I think the problem started from our email,” said Mr. Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon, who said his office sent out a corrected update later in the day Tuesday.

Mt. Lebanon Magazine’s Facebook post was based on the legislator’s email blast. Mt. Lebanon assistant public information officer Laura Pace Lilley said the original post was removed and a corrected one was posted.

Mr. Ritchie said there was so much concern among commuters that the Port Authority posted signs during the evening rush hour on Tuesday and printed out special cards to let customers know that the lot wasn’t going to be closed immediately.

“Hopefully people got clarification from us when they got back [to the parking lot] today,” Mr. Ritchie said late Tuesday.