Sep 9, 2006 4:45 pm US/Eastern
Work To Begin On North Shore Connector
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) ―
Work on a five-year, $435 million project creating two light rail tunnels under the Allegheny River to link downtown Pittsburgh to the city's North Shore will begin this fall after a federal agency agreed to pay for 80 percent of the expansion.
The Federal Transit Administration agreed to pay $348 million, officials of the Port Authority of Allegheny County said.
Within weeks, workers will begin surveying the site and locating buried utility lines by digging small holes downtown and on the North Shore, said Henry Nutbrown, Port Authority assistant general manager.
The authority hired North Shore Constructors, a joint venture between Trumbull Corp. of West Mifflin and Obayashi Corp. of San Francisco, for $156.5 million to finish the first phase.
Critics of the project see it as a waste of money, since the expansion only runs 1.2 miles from downtown to an area near the stadiums for the Steelers and Pirates. But its supporters hope the North Shore Connector will spur development, as well as future light-rail extensions to Pittsburgh International Airport.
Companies such as Equitable Resources and Del Monte relocated headquarters to the North Shore.
"This is great news for us," Nutbrown said.
He said he was pleased that the Federal Transit Administration considered the project "one of the top priority transit projects around the country."
Port Authority board member Charles Martoni was not as optimistic about the project.
"If we could start from the beginning, I might look for an alternative, but we're not," he said. "We're 10 years into this thing. I don't think we have any choice."
County Executive Dan Onorato said he would have preferred to expand elsewhere first, but supports the project because he does not want to lose federal money.
The expansion is scheduled to open by summer 2011.
Street closures and detours will begin in November.
"We will not be disrupting street traffic for 4½ years," Nutbrown said. "We're going to be sensitive to the needs of motorists, pedestrians and building owners as we build out this project."
Planning for the North Shore Connector began in 1999.
The cost has risen recently, increasing by $42 million in a little more than a year.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
