(rshsdepot) Edgewood, PA

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

From the Feb. 19 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

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RENOVATION OF EDGEWOOD TRAIN STATION BACK IN LIMBO

By Joe Grata

Renovation of Edgewood's historic train station will have to wait. Again.

The Port Authority board's engineering and construction committee yesterday 
recommended rejecting all bids for the train station improvements and 
rehabilitation of the Swissvale Avenue and Whitney Avenue pedestrian tunnels 
under the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway Extension.

Engineering and Construction Manager Henry Nutbrown said the low bid for 
only the general construction portion of the project was $715,000, well more 
than the $420,000 estimate. The electrical and heating-ventilation low bids 
totaling $124,000 also exceeded estimates.

"We believe the proper course is to step back, redesign and reduce the scope 
of the project" in order to bring costs closer to budget, he said.

A group of Edgewood officials and residents fought the 2.3-mile busway 
extension for more than a decade. Consequently, the Port Authority dropped 
the local improvements from plans and went ahead with the busway, anyhow.

The buses-only road opened between Wilkinsburg and Swissvale-Rankin in July 
2003. A year later, the borough and the authority reached agreement on 
changes to the 1,500-square-foot train station. Now housing an antique shop 
and real estate office, the historic building is adjacent to the busway at 
the bottom of Maple Avenue.

Once the scaled-back renovations are done, the Port Authority is to lease 
the building to Edgewood for a nominal amount for 29 years. The borough is 
to use it for community purposes.

In other business, the authority board:

* Recommended a $2,450,000 extension of an agreement with consultant Booz 
Allen to oversee a $151 million contract to buy 28 light-rail vehicles and 
rehabilitate 40 old LRVs, all by late next year.

So far, all 28 new cars have been shipped; 14 are used in daily service. The 
first two old vehicles have been rehabilitated and are being tested on South 
Hills tracks; five more have been shipped to CAF USA's plant in Elmira, 
N.Y., for work.

* Gave preliminary approval to a maximum $400,000 extension of a $6.6 
million contract with a group of consulting firms to continue work on a 
draft environmental impact statement for a proposed high-speed, magnetically 
levitated train between Pittsburgh International Airport and Greensburg.

Maglev Inc. and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, partners in 
the maglev project, are awaiting Federal Railway Administration approval to 
release the statement for a 45-day public comment period and four public 
hearings. They expect those proceedings to take place this spring.

* Heard Nutbrown report continuing progress on development of an intermodal 
transportation facility in Robinson. By this time next year, he said work is 
expected to be under way on an 820-space park-n- ride lot and on Montour Run 
Road improvements at The Pointe at North Fayette retail center.

* Was told staff and Bethel Park officials are working toward what Nubrown 
called "a satisfactory outcome" to the municipality's plans to impose a 10 
percent parking tax on the authority's new 2,200- space parking garage at 
the South Hills Village T station.

"The tax at this time would be counterproductive to our efforts and could 
result in reduced ridership," Nutbrown said, rather than boost ridership 
after $500 million in light-rail improvements over the past several years. 

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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