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Light rail Stage II gets rolling Groundbreaking in Overbrook launches 12-mile rebuilding project Thursday, April 13, 2000 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
At groundbreaking in Overbrook yesterday for what is officially called Stage II of Allegheny County's light rail system, speakers agreed on two points:
Paul Skoutelas, Port Authority chief executive officer, said it took political consensus to get the 12-mile project under way after so many years.
"We're at a disadvantage because Allegheny County has no dedicated source of [tax] revenue for transit," he said. "We've had to work longer and harder."
In recent months, Skoutelas has spent time in Washington, D.C., with Mayor Murphy and County Executive Jim Roddey, lobbying the federal government to fund 80 percent of the estimated $500 million cost of Stage II, mostly for rebuilding the Overbrook, Library and Drake lines and buying 28 new light rail vehicles.
Skoutelas joined them yesterday under a tent along the South Busway overlooking Route 51, part of the Saw Mill Run Valley-Overbrook corridor, where rail transportation dates to the 1800s.
Stage I, which brought a Downtown subway, 55 modern trolleys and reconstruction of 10.5 miles of the light rail system through Beechview, Dormont, Mt. Lebanon, Castle Shannon, Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair, took seven years from groundbreaking to its May 1987 completion.
Stage II languished for lack of money and political oomph until Skoutelas took over the top job at the Port Authority in 1997. He ordered the staff and consultants to fast-track the project while he searched for funding.
Although the Port Authority still lacks hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, "Our commitment is to rebuild all of these lines," Skoutelas said. "We're going to modernize the system and make it rapid transit," which, when opened, is expected to cut at least 10 minutes off the current 40-minute rush hour trips from South Hills Village or Library to Downtown.
The Overbrook line, where the authority is starting Stage II reconstruction, was closed in 1993 because of deteriorated track, subsidence and a couple of old wooden, single-track bridges.
A & L Inc. of Rostraver was awarded a $36.3 million contract for the first two-mile section between Denise and Glenbury streets. The authority plans to award two other contracts before the end of the year, putting all five miles from South Hills Junction to Castle Shannon under construction.
A & L has begun earth-moving on both sides of Route 51, where it later will build a new overpass to carry two sets of tracks.
The authority tore down an old single-track, steel bridge near Whited and Colerain streets two years ago.
In the near future, the southern end of the South Busway will be closed from Route 88/Glenbury Street to Whited because of retaining wall construction. Temporary access to and from the busway will be via Whited Street.
The new Overbrook line will be built on the west side of Route 51 on a "shelf" of land to be created above the busway and below the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad tracks.
On the east side of the valley, the tracks will follow the old streetcar rights of way, although substantial earth-moving and retaining wall construction will take place there, too.
Eight stations will be built along the Overbrook line, with accommodations for two-car trains and platform loading to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The stations are Willow, Memorial Hall, Killarney, McNeilly, South Bank, Denise, Bon Air and Boggs. All were among the 22 stops on the old Overbrook line.
Included in the project is installation of gated crossings, improved overhead wires, a new signal system and park-n-ride lots.
The Overbrook line is to be completed in late 2003, enabling the Port Authority to provide express service on the T to and from the southernmost stops by bypassing Beechview, Dormont and Mt. Lebanon. On the other hand, those communities will benefit from light rail vehicles operating in a shuttle mode to and from Downtown, providing frequent and more predictable service.
"This symbolizes the beginning of new and improved service on the T," Skoutelas said at the groundbreaking, where officials and visitors received full-size metal rail spikes as souvenirs.
Roddey touted a new spirit of cooperation among officials.
"This is what today is all about," he said, pledging to support future light rail expansions to the North Shore and Oakland.
"The landscape of Western Pennsylvania is littered with dreams and lost opportunities because we did not cooperate," Murphy said, saying he was happy to be celebrating "moving together" on Stage II.
Port Authority Chairman Neal Holmes said that while that project has been 20 years in the making, "We're here to finish the job. Projects of this magnitude do not come easy or without consensus, planning and, of course, money."
Roddey climbed into the cab of a highlift, started the engine and pulled a hydraulic control to tear out a section of old streetcar track. (He received private instructions before the ceremony.)
A Dixieland band played and officials uncovered a lunch buffet set up in the middle of the busway, closed for six hours because of the ceremony.
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The wait has been long -- 13 years after Stage I was finished.