Residents in Pittsburgh’s Uptown and Oakland neighborhoods will find out this week what types of traffic restrictions and other disruptions they might face during the second phase of construction for Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Bus Rapid Transit system.
PRT will hold online and in-person meetings this week and another in-person meeting next week to discuss how more than two years of construction will proceed. Work is expected to begin before the end of the month on 6 miles of exclusive bus lanes, 18 new stations, bike lanes, sidewalks, trees, street lights and traffic signals that will be part of the $99.8 million contract.
The online meeting will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Registration is required.
In-persons meetings will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Power Center Ballroom at Duquesne University, 1015 Forbes Ave., and at 4 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Connelly Ballroom at the University of Pittsburgh’s Alumni Hall, 4227 Fifth Ave. No registration is needed for in-person meetings.
The project, dubbed the University Line, will create exclusive lanes for buses that will have priority at traffic lights between Oakland to Downtown Pittsburgh on Fifth Avenue and return to Oakland via Forbes Avenue. The goal is to provide a slightly faster, more predictable service between the two busy business districts by taking buses out of traffic jams that cause them to bunch together and make it difficult to stay on schedule.
At the meetings, PRT officials will discuss the rollout of work by Independence Excavating Inc., which is expected to last until sometime in 2027. Independence also won the first contract for $27.9 million of work in Downtown Pittsburgh.
Although the street benefits won’t be as extensive in Uptown as initially proposed due to costs, the neighborhood will still see improvements in an area that has long been neglected.
Overall, 39 intersections in Oakland and Uptown will be equipped with ADA-compliant curb ramps, pedestrian countdown signals and accessible push-button activators. The 18 new stations will have modern amenities such as fare-vending machines, real-time bus arrival displays, seating, lighting, security cameras and emergency phones.
Five of PRT’s busiest bus routes from the east and south will use the lanes: 61A, B and C, 71B and P3. Eventually, the system will extend to Squirrel Hill and Greenfield, but that work will come in future years due to cost.
The entire project is expected to cost about $291 million, about half of it coming from federal grants.
Independence began work in the Downtown area in September 2023 and is expected to finish there in the summer. The selected bus routes already are following the Downtown loop, which sends buses inbound on Fifth Avenue to Liberty, Liberty to Sixth Avenue, and Sixth to Forbes.
There will be five stations Downtown at Fifth Avenue and Ross Street, Fifth and William Penn Place, Fifth and Market Square, the Wood Street T Station on Liberty Avenue, and Steel Plaza at Sixth Avenue and Grant Street. Another 16 intersections in the Golden Triangle will receive 35 new traffic signals.
PRT expects to begin using the new stations and other features in the Downtown area as soon as they are ready.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.