Category: Announcements || By Submitted Reports

The city's aging, 1970s-era transportation center on Lysle Boulevard will be demolished and replaced by a new terminal serving buses, paratransit vans and the Great Allegheny Passage hiking-biking trail, it was announced today.

About $1 million in funding for the project will come from the state's Act 89 transportation plan, according to a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. The McKeesport bus terminal replacement is one of 86 projects in 35 counties, valued at a total of $84 million, being funded.

"All types of transportation drive our economy, and Act 89 gave us the tools to ensure our non-highway modes receive the funding they need to maintain a connected transportation system," PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch said. Also funded will be improvements to a barge terminal in Glassport.

Under the plan, Port Authority's McKeesport Transportation Center --- which once served Amtrak's Capitol Limited intercity passenger train, as well as Port Authority's Versailles to Pittsburgh passenger train --- will be demolished and replaced with a new "multimodal" terminal serving local and regional buses, paratransit ("ACCESS") vans, and the bike trail. The existing park-and-ride lot would also be improved.

"This project will both create jobs and give McKeesport a state-of-the-art transportation center that will enhance our regional appeal," said state Rep. Marc Gergely of White Oak. "I anticipate that the increased traffic will bring more business to McKeesport and I appreciate PennDOT seeing the value in awarding this grant."

The funding for this grant comes from Act 89 funding, and is one of five transit projects across the state that applied for multimodal funding. Selections were based on criteria including safety benefits, regional economic conditions, the technical and financial feasibility, job creation, energy efficiency and operation sustainability.

Act 89 increased transit funding and established dedicated multimodal funding for aviation, passenger rail, rail freight, port and bicycle-pedestrian projects. The project funding comes from three state fiscal years of Act 89 investments. The projects require a 30 percent match from local sources.

The state has also committed nearly $244,000 to construct five "quad-tie" cells for mooring barges at the Three Rivers Marine and Rail Terminal in Glassport, a PennDOT spokesman said.

The Versailles to Pittsburgh commuter train, operated by CSX Transportation on behalf of Port Authority Transit, was cancelled in April 1987, while Amtrak's Chicago to Washington Capitol Limited discontinued its McKeesport spot two years later.