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PittsburghDowntown-Uptown-Oakland-EastEndBusRapidTransitSmallStartsApplication:ProjectNarrative 1

Pittsburgh Downtown-Uptown-Oakland-East End Bus Rapid Transit Project Small Starts Application: Project Narrative August 2019

ProjectIdentificationTheDowntown-Uptown-Oakland-EastEndBusRapidTransit(BRT)Projectwillprovideavitaleast-westconnectionbetweendowntownPittsburghandtheUptown,Oakland,andEastEndneighborhoods.Theproject includes changes to both physical infrastructure and transit operations along the Downtown-Uptown-Oaklandportionofthecorridor(the“BRTCore”)alongwithchangestotransitoperationsintheEastEndportionofthecorridor–HighlandPark,SquirrelHill,andtheEastBusway.

AsshownonFigure1,theproposedBRTCoreimprovementsextendatotalof7.1milesprimarilyalongFifthandForbesAvenuesplusanadditional4.3milesoftheexistingEastBusway(eachdirection)usingdedicatedlanes.TheHighlandParkBRTBranchextends3.75miles(eachdirection)primarilyusingFifthand Highland Avenues, and the Squirrel Hill BRT Branch extends 2.9 miles (each direction) primarilyusingForbesandMurrayAvenues.BoththeHighlandParkandSquirrelHillBRTbrancheswilloperateinmixed-flowtrafficonexistingsurfacestreets.Thefollowingmajorcapital improvementsareproposedaspartoftheproject:

• Forty-sixstations/pairs,includingexistingstations1

• DedicatedtransitlanesintheBRTCore

• Transitsignalpriority(TSP)andtrafficsignalmodificationsthroughoutthecorridor

• BusbumpoutsalongtheSquirrelHillandHighlandParkBRTbranches

• Real-timebusarrivalinformation

• FifteennewbatteryelectricarticulatedbusesintheCoreBRTandfifty-oneexisting,rebrandedornewdieselbusesfortheBRTbranches

Routing changes areproposed toextendoutsideof theBRTCore corridor along threebranches: EastBuswayBRT(alignmentalongexistingP3route);HighlandParkBRT(alignmentalongexisting71Broute);andSquirrelHillBRT(alignmentalongexisting61Droute).TheproposedBRToperationswillreplaceandenhanceexistingservicesforthe61series(Routes61A,61B,61C,and61D),the71series(Routes71A,71B,71C,and71D),andP3routes.

1OnestationwithintheCoreBRTportionofthecorridor—theForbes/Atwoodstation,whichwillservewestboundtravel—wasopenedinDecember2018aspartofaseparate,independentproject.Inaddition,rebrandingoffourexistingstationsalongtheEastBuswayisproposed.


Figure1:ProjectInfrastructureOverviewMap


The Port Authority of Allegheny County (Port Authority) is currently developing a comprehensiveoperationalplantoconsolidateandstreamlinetheseservices,andfurthercoordinateotherconnectingbusservicewithinandadjacenttothecorridor.Anoverviewroutingmapisprovidedwithprojectmapsinthegrantsubmittalmaterials.

The proposed BRT servicewithin the BRT Core corridor, shown inTable 1,will operate seven days aweek, from 4:00 AM to 2:00 AM and from 5:00 AM to 2:00 AM, during weekdays and weekends,respectively.TheseeffectiveheadwayswillbeachievedbyoverlappingtheHighlandParkBRT,SquirrelHillBRT,andEastBuswayBRTserviceswithintheBRTCorecorridor.

Table1:ServiceHeadwaysandSpan Peak Off-Peak Evening

Weekday 2.5minutes 4–7minutes 4–7minutesWeekend 5–7minutes 5–7minutes 5–7minutes

Theproject’scurrentestimatedcapitalcostis$249.9million.TheBRTpartiesareseekingapproximately$100million,fromtheFTASmallStartsprogram.

SettingThe City of Pittsburgh is located in the southwestern region of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania(Commonwealth) and is the county seat of Allegheny County. With a combined statistical areapopulationinitsmetropolitanandsurroundingareasofover2.6million,Pittsburghisthesecondlargestcity in the Commonwealth and the 26th largest metropolitan area in the United States.2 The City ofPittsburgh itself is home to over 300,000 people and over 390,000 jobs. Of this population,approximately30percentlivewithin0.5milesoftheproposedBRTstations.Employmentintheprojectcorridoris258,546,whichismorethan66percentofthetotalemploymentwithinthecity.3

TransitserviceinthecityisprovidedbythePortAuthority,whichoperates98busroutes,threelightraillines, and two inclineplanes.Bus service is operatedon local streets and regional arterials aswell asthreeexclusivebus-onlybuswaysandaHigh-OccupancyVehicleLane.Averageweekdayridershiptotals214,000,combiningtoprovideover63milliontransitridesperyear.

DowntownPittsburghand thenearbyneighborhoodofOakland—areaswhere theBRTCoreservice isproposed—are, respectively, the first and second greatest traffic generators and the two largestcommercialemploymentgeneratorsinthePittsburghregion.TheyarealsothesecondandthirdlargesttrafficgeneratorsintheCommonwealth,respectively,andserveasmajorhubsofcommercialandretailjobs,majoruniversities(suchastheUniversityofPittsburgh,CarnegieMellonUniversity,andDuquesneUniversity), several hospitals, as well as other cultural venues and major sports arenas. The PortAuthoritycurrentlyoperateseightexistingroutesintheDowntown-Uptown-OaklandcorridorandaP3servicefromthesuburbsintotheDowntown-Oaklandarea,whichwillberestructuredtoformtheBRTservice. The average weekday ridership along these routes varies between 43,000 and 50,000 riderswhentheUniversitiesareinsession,representingalmostaquarteroftheentiretransitsystem.

2AnnualEstimatesofthePopulationofMetropolitanandMicropolitanStatisticalAreas:April1,2010toJuly1,2016"(CSV).2016PopulationEstimates.UnitedStatesCensusBureau,PopulationDivision.March2016.RetrievedAugust22,2017.3RegionalForecastEstimatesbyTrafficAnalysisZones.SouthwesternPennsylvaniaCommission(SPC).2015.


CurrentConditionsWhile thecorridor is currently servedby transit, severalproblemswithin thecorridormakeprovidingcontinuedqualitytransitservicechallenging.

The concentration of employment in Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland places large regional traveldemandsonaccesswithinthecorridor.Thiscontributestocongestedtrafficconditionsforbothbusesandautomobiletraffic.Seventy-fivepercentofpeoplewhoworkintheCityofPittsburghcommutefromoutside of the city limits into the city daily for work. Additionally, over half of employed Pittsburghresidents are also commutingwithin the city daily for work. These travel demands are concentratedwithinthe0.25-milestudyarea,whichcollectivelyprovides50percentofalljobsinthecity.4

Although there are high-speed roadways located south andnorthof Fifth and ForbesAvenues, theseroadwaysdonotprovidedirectaccesstomostofthemajortripgeneratorsinDowntownPittsburghandOakland, and are also congested in peak travel hours. Further, dense development and othertransportation infrastructure along the corridor limit the ability to widen roadways any further andtopographic features limit theabilityofother roadways toservedemands in thecorridor.Asa result,bothautomobilesandbusesmustoperateinmixed-flowlanes,causingadditionaldelaystotravelflowin the corridor. Additionally, delays due to congested conditions and buses operating in mixed-flowlanes cause buses to “bunch” (operate in uneven intervals). This results in overcrowding of the firstvehicles inaplatoonandunderutilizationofbusesat theendofaplatoon.A recentCarnegieMellonUniversitystudyfoundthatupto80percentofpeakhourbusesalongthecorridoroperatewithin800feet of another bus servicing the same line in the same direction.5 The uneven distribution of loadsreducesbothcustomersatisfactionandoperationalefficiency,andincreasesoperatingcosts.

Currentbus travel times in the corridor are slowandunreliable.Averageweekdaybus travel speedalongtheproposedBRTcorridoriswellbelowthetypical25milesperhour(mph)postedspeedlimits.6From 2012 to 2016, the average speed for buses operating along the corridor decreased byapproximately6.6percent.This is largelydue to increasing traffic congestion.Despite thehigh transitridership in the corridor, these comparative commute times indicate that public transit does notcurrentlyprovideacompetitivetraveloptioncomparedwiththeautomobile.

Reliabilityandspeedofbusesinthecorridorhavecontinuedtodeclineascongestionincreasesanddueto overcrowded conditions on buses. The average speed for buses operating along the corridor hasreduced by approximately four percent between 2012 and 2016; the on-time performance for thesebuses is approximately 67 percent, below the Port Authority goal of 73 percent. Approximately 36percentofallsystemovercrowdingoccursonbusesoperatingalongthecorridor.

ProjectPurposeandMeritsoftheProjectThepurposeofthisprojectistoimproveaccesstoandwithintheDowntown-Uptown-Oakland-EastEndcorridor with faster, more reliable, and easy-to-use transit service that improves regional,neighborhood, and job connectivity. Fast, reliable transit investment in this corridor will supportintegratedtransportation, landuse,andeconomicdevelopmentgoals in theregion inacost-effective4LongitudinalEmployerHouseholdDynamics,InflowOutflowPatterns-AllJobs,2014.5StudentsforUrbanDataSystemsatCarnegie,“DoPittsburgh’sBusesBunch?”,2016.6PortAuthorityofAlleghenyCounty,2016CalendarYearTransitOperationsData,2017.


mannerthatmaximizesexistingcapacityalongthecorridor.Thisprojectinvestmentwillresultinseveralkeybenefitsthataddressexistingchallengesinthecorridorandneedsbothinthecorridorandregionasawhole.Theprojectwill:

• Provideenhancedtransitservicetomaximizetheexistingroadwaycapacityinanalreadyheavilycongestedurbanareaandprovidetime-competitivetransitoptionswithinthecorridortomovepeoplemoreefficiently.

• Developapremium,integratedtransitserviceinadense,alreadyheavilyutilizedtransitcorridorthat directly connects the major employment centers in the region with surroundingneighborhoodsandconnectingtransitservices.

• Enhance transit reliability, travel speed, andeaseofuseof transitbyprovidingdedicatedbuslanesalongthecorridorandenhanced,branded,appropriatelyspacedstationlocations.

Theproposedprojectalsoeffectivelyintegratesseverallanduseandtransportationcomponentsinthecityandregion,andwillfurthersupportseveraleconomicdevelopmenteffortsalreadyunderway.Mostnotably, theCity has recently completed anEco-InnovationDistrict Plan for theUptownandOaklandneighborhoods that liewithin the project corridor.With support from an FTA Pilot Program for TODPlanning grant, this strategic community plan was developed to attract and guide redevelopment inthese neighborhoods, enhance community identity and multimodal transportation options throughcompletestreetsandplace-makingstrategies,reduceenvironmentalfootprints,andimproveequityandaccess to jobs. Additionally, othermaster planning efforts—such asEnvisionDowntown, theOakland2025 Plan, and theHill DistrictMaster Plan—aswell as the City’s recently adoptedComplete StreetsPolicy, and county-wide and regional comprehensive planning efforts have been completed.Meanwhile, new community planning processes have begun including the Downtown PittsburghMobility Plan and the Oakland Plan along with several new institutional master plans. All of theserecentlycompletedandongoingplanning initiativescombinetomakethisprojectakeycomponent inintegratinglanduseandtransportationsolutionsinthecityandregion.

SummaryThe Downtown-Uptown-Oakland-East End BRT Project will improve connectivity and access, reducecongestion, and provide enhanced east-west mobility through some of themost congested areas ofdowntownPittsburghandOakland, servingmajor employment centers, dense surrounding residentialpopulations, and areas of significant development. These improvements will further improve transittraveltime,reducetransittraveltimevariability,andprovidegreatermobilityinadense,urbantransitcorridor. Fast, reliable transit investment in this corridor will support integrated transportation, landuse,andeconomicdevelopmentgoalsinacost-effectivemannerthatmaximizesexistingtransportationcapacity, and provides affordable transportation options for riders requiring access tomajor hubs ofcommercial and retail jobs, major universities (such as the University of Pittsburgh, CarnegieMellonUniversity, and Duquesne University), several hospitals, as well as other cultural venues and majorsportsarenas.