Tube City Almanac

June 10, 2005

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish

Category: default || By officerjim

According to an article by Joe Grata in Thursday’s Post-Gazette, the Port Authority of Allegheny County has received federal approval to begin construction of the proposed $400 million extension of the light rail system across the Allegheny River to serve the North Shore. While I’m a strong booster of rail transit, and generally support any initiative to move traffic off rubber tires and onto steel wheels, this seems like a limited benefit to me.

The whole “T” (if they still call it that) serves a very narrow portion of the county population on a routine basis. Instead of extending it into the areas of the county that heavily use mass transit (ie: the Mon Valley), what they essentially are proposing to build is a stadium line to serve PNC Park and Heinz Field, as well as the convention center.

While many cities have rail transit that drops riders off at major venues, I have to wonder just how much this line will get used during times when there are no events scheduled at any of the above. The route doesn’t really seem like it will touch much residential area; at least, not as much as it probably could.

Granted, there may be plans for eventual expansion once the core line is built, but given that I believe this to be the first new major leg of the “T” to be built (if and when it gets built) since the system was created, I have to wonder if there’s anyone within the Port Authority who’s that forward thinking.






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