Revitalization plans for East Busway’s Herron Station await funding

Pittsburgh Regional Transit has settled on the design concept for a revitalized Herron Station on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.

Now it needs to complete formal plans for improvements that could cost as much as $6 million.

Moira Egler, a program manager overseeing the project, said the final proposal includes substantial changes for the bus stop on Herron Avenue above the busway and the station on the busway below it. She presented the final recommendations to the board’s Planning & Stakeholders Relations Committee on Thursday.

The proposal is a combination of two concepts the agency presented at a series of public meetings last fall. It includes five major elements: a longer street plaza on Herron Avenue with bike rental and parking, seating and a transit ticket vending machine; a 10-foot-wide ADA ramp with several landings; stairs and ramps covered with canopies; bus stops integrated with the street plaza; and improved pedestrian safety at the intersection of Herron Avenue and Ruthven Street.

It also features renovated stairs from Downing Street to the plaza, more landscaping and improved lighting.

Egler said the agency hopes the renovations will increase ridership at the stop, located where diverse neighborhoods Lower Lawrenceville, Polish Hill and the Strip District meet. The stop has the lowest ridership on the busy busway.

“Right now, it’s quite isolated and underutilized,” she said, noting that the agency has had gains of 15% to 20% when it has renovated other stations.

Because funding hasn’t been identified yet, construction is at least several years away, likely after Pittsburgh completes a renovation of the Herron Avenue Bridge.

Herron is the latest in a series of station upgrades PRT has undertaken. On the busway, it opened a revitalized Negley Station in June and is in the planning stages for Wilkinsburg Station while plans for light rail stops at Station Square, South Hills Junction and Dormont await funding.