Transit expansion

The Post-Gazette reported today that the Federal Government has given the go-ahead to the Allegheny County Port Authority to extend light rail to Pittsburgh's North Shore. This project, referred to as the "North Shore connector" and largely dismissed as pork-barrel spending will extend the current trolley line from the Gateway Center station downtown approximately one and a quarter miles into the North Shore, serving the stadiums and high rise commercial and residential development nearby. An underground spur from Steel Plaza to a new station in the convention center will also be built. There is no word on whether or not the new convention center station would replace the current Penn Park station linking the trolley to the Amtrak line, however, a map of the proposed route published in the Post-Gazette seems to imply that it will. A map on the Port Authority's website contradicts what was published in the newspaper, however. All said, the Port Authority expects that people will be able to ride the rails to Northside by 2009.

Generally I am all for mass transit expansion. However, I question the wisdom of such an expensive project taking place (the county has to pay for upkeep after the initial federal investment) for so little right of way. $400 million does not seem like a good deal for only one and a half miles of track. Still, this concern over fiscal expenditures comes as a distant second to the fact that the Port Authority is still running on borrowed time (aka: fund readjustments) after three years of not having enough state and federal support to balance their books. Harrisburg has yet to provide dedicated funding for mass transit in Pennsylvania and the federal government is more interested in funding piggy projects rather than maintaining existing infrastructure. If these were more fiscally stable times, I'd be cheering this project on full-force. However, the economy is on shaky ground and legislatures don't seem to care much for services that benefit those who can't afford to buy cars. I want to see this project go forward, but, pragmatically, I am hesitant about it. In any case, it may yet be shot down if the Authority can't prove that it can afford to maintain the line. We'll see if I can meet up with you at a trolley station on the Northside in 2009.