Port Authority gets $100M in funding for BRT project

Port Authority received the final financial piece it needed late Thursday to move ahead on the Bus Rapid Transit project between Oakland and Downtown Pittsburgh: $99.95 million from the Federal Transit Administration.

President Donald Trump tweeted the announcement just after 6 p.m.

“[The federal Department of Transportation] is committing $99.95 M to @PGHTransit in Pennsylvania to connect Pittsburghers to their two largest commercial employment centers through safe, quick transit service. Great things coming to a great state!” the president tweeted.

The federal grant should complete the funding for the $225

million project to use exclusive bus lanes to improve the flow of transit between Oakland and Downtown. The authority has been developing plans for more than five years, and Allegheny County officials have said the project is so important they would have found a way to move ahead without federal funding.

Authority CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman said Thursday she had heard through a longtime FTA contact earlier in the day an announcement would be forthcoming.

“We’re very pleased,” Ms. Kelleman said in an interview late Thursday. “We are very satisfied they realized the value of our project.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, DForest Hills, said he has been working on the funding since 2017.

“I’ve been working hard with the Port Authority of Allegheny County to improve public transit in Pittsburgh. We need more reliable, convenient transit service to ensure all of our communities thrive. This project will be transformative for our city, connecting downtown Pittsburgh with fast-growing areas like Oakland and the East End,” the congressman said.

“I have worked in support of the Port Authority’s federal funding request, and I’m very pleased that the Federal Transit Administration has recognized the merit of this initiative and its importance to our region. This project will connect some of the fastest-growing parts of our city and provide a fast, efficient way for workers to commute.”

The goal is to use 15 electric buses to supplement regular buses and provide efficient, reliable service by eliminating traffic jams that cause buses to bunch together. Buses will travel outbound on Forbes and inbound via Fifth Avenue, which also will have bike lanes.

The system also will have spurs that extend to Wilkinsburg via the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway as well as Highland Park and Squirrel Hill on city streets where buses will have priority lanes at intersections to move through traffic lights quicker.

Buses from the East End, eastern suburbs and Monongahela Valley that pass through Oakland also will use the dedicated lanes.

The federal funding leaves the project with a $27 million gap, but the agency is seeking funding from foundations and doesn’t expect that to hold up the project.

The project is in its final design stage, and the authority is ready to begin property acquisition in the next few months, Ms. Kelleman said. Construction should start next year, and she said a large part of the project will be done in 2023.

Ms. Kelleman said the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to some changes in stations and large stops because of the need to provide more space for social distancing, but that should hold up the work.

“We’re happy to be able to get moving,” she said.