Onorato considers privatized Downtown-to-Oakland route

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato plans to make it easier to travel from Oakland to… Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato plans to make it easier to travel from Oakland to Downtown, but it might cost Pitt students.

Onorato and the Transportation Action Partnership, a task force of transportation experts, recently extended an offer to private investors around the world to find a way to make that happen. If a private investor constructs the corridor, it might not be included in the flat rate included in Pitt students’ transportation fees.

If all goes as planned, an Oakland to Downtown corridor, an Oakland circuit or a Downtown to the Pittsburgh International Airport route will be ready for construction in the next two to three years, Megan Dardanell, spokeswoman for Allegheny County, said.

She said she didn’t know whether or not the connector would be included in Pitt students’ transportation fees.

“This [new line of transportation] may or may not include Port Authority,” Dardanell said.

The three routes being considered would be along Centre Avenue, Second Avenue and Colwell Street/Fifth Avenue.

At this point, not one option is suggested over another, Dardanell said.

Onorato, a candidate for governor in this year’s election, said the Partnership hopes to move on with its plan in spite of the state of the economy.

“In an environment of limited public dollars, we must be creative and innovative in order to expand transit and improve mobility in and between southwestern Pennsylvania’s two largest economic centers,” Onorato said in a press release.

The plan is still in its early stages, Dardanell said, “but it’s a very real thing.”

The transportation team is still in its research stages. It is determining which corridor will be up and running first, as well as the type of transportation to be used — light rail, rapid bus or elevated people mover. The decision partly depends on who will sign onto the private end of the partnership.

The team will only accept energy-conscious proposals. This doesn’t necessarily exclude using buses, but the connector route should reduce the number of cars on the road, thus improving Pittsburgh’s footprint, Dardanell said.

In return for private investors’ opportunity to have a say in the process, Pittsburgh’s city government will have rights to develop the land of interest and earn revenue from fares.

Onorato, who has expressed interest in updating Pittsburgh’s public transportation system since he was elected in 2004, is currently lobbying for the state to enable legislation for public-private partnerships, according to Dardanell. There is currently no law for this in Pennsylvania.

Kent McGaughey, Pitt’s manager of travel and transportation, was unable to comment.

More information on the project and prospective investors can be found at pittsburgh-oaklandconnector.com. Members of the community will be able to leave comments on the site by the end of April.