Mar. 3—With a ceremonial toss of a shovel of dirt, Port Authority CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman and other officials on Thursday kicked off the refurbishing of the Negley Station that will be “safer, more accessible and better looking.”
The $2.5 million project will reduce the grade and widen the ramp from South Negley Avenue, install barriers between the inbound and outbound lanes of the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway to protect riders crossing the busway, and improve the drop-off area on Summerlea Street by installing a canopy and providing an easier traffic pattern. That Shadyside stop along the busway is one of the busiest in the authority’s system.
The revised station itself will have bike racks, ConnectCard machines and wayfinding stations.
Plavchak Construction Co. will close the sidewalks, ramp and stairs from South Negley Avenue and the intersection of Summerlea and Pierce streets for the next three months. The project should be finished by fall.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said improving the station will increase “connectivity” for residents, improving transit as an alternative for commuters driving alone in their cars.
City Councilwoman Erika Strassburger said the authority’s decision to make Negley the first of its stations to be improved is “a sign of how important this station is, this corridor is.”
Once the station work is done, the authority plans to market about 16,000 square feet of property it owns along Pierce Street east of the station for small apartment buildings that could have first-floor shops.
Negley is the first of a series of station improvements the authority is planning.
Last month, it released a proposal to upgrade South Hills Junction with a $53 million to $69 million project that will include a pedestrian bridge between Mount Washington and Beltzhoover and combining the bus and light rail stations at one stop. It is developing plans to upgrade the Dormont. Carnegie and Station Square stations.
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1470 or on Twitter @EdBlazina.
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