How will the Airport Multimodal Corridor Study impact traffic in downtown Pittsburgh?
How will the new roadway or transit system be funded?
What is a Major Investment Study (MIS)?
How often is the Parkway West congested?
What is the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC)?
What's the next step after the MIS study?

Port Authority and SPC, among others, are undertaking the Strategic Regional Transit Visioning Study. How will the outcomes of the Airport Multi-Modal study affect this visioning effort?

What happens to the transportation recommendations from the Airport Multi-Modal Corridor Project if High-Speed Maglev becomes a reality for the Pittsburgh region?

What happens to the transportation recommendations from the Airport Multi-Modal Corridor Project if High-Speed Maglev becomes a reality for the Pittsburgh region?
Port Authority is currently undertaking the Environmental Impact Statement for the Pennsylvania Project High-Speed Maglev Project, which proposes a high-speed rail connection between Pittsburgh International Airport, downtown Pittsburgh, Monroeville and Greensburg. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will select either the Pennsylvania Project or a competing project connecting Baltimore and Washington to be the first high-speed maglev system in the United States. The FRA selection is expected in the spring of 2003.

The Airport Multimodal Corridor MIS will evaluate alternatives prior to the FRA's Maglev selection. Accordingly, the project team will develop and assess alternatives under two scenarios. The first scenario will develop alternatives anticipating that the Pennsylvania High-Speed Maglev Project will be constructed. Under the second scenario, alternatives will be developed without Maglev.
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Port Authority and SPC, among others, are undertaking the Strategic Regional Transit Visioning Study. How will the outcomes of the Airport Multi-Modal study affect this visioning effort?
The Strategic Regional Transit Visioning Study is focused on determining, with significant public input, the next round of potential public transportation investments by identifying transportation needs and recommending transportation improvements for various corridors of the region. From previous studies conducted, a great deal of public support has been generated for transportation improvements within the Airport corridor. Although the Airport corridor has already been identified and determined as a location for transportation improvements, feedback from the visioning study - which is scheduled to conclude several months prior - will be considered and analyzed as feedback into the Airport Multimodal Study.
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What's the next step after the MIS study?
The project team will begin an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) study for the selected alignments. An EIS is a federally mandated document that outlines the transportation needs of the study area, analyzes and describes a range of alternatives for meeting those needs, further identifies environmental and community concerns, and estimates ridership, revenue and capital costs.
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What is the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC)?
SPC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for southwestern Pennsylvania SPC's role is to undertake comprehensive regional transportation planning and is responsible for how federal transportation funds are spent in the region. SPC provides a forum for regional collaboration, planning and public decision-making.
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How often is the Parkway West congested?
Previous studies have indicated that approximately seven hours of each day are occupied by a high volume of vehicles. Studies also show that this number may increase to 10 or more hours per day by the year 2025.
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What is a Major Investment Study (MIS)?
A Major Investment Study (MIS) is the first level of the planning process for considering federally funded transportation infrastructure investments in a metropolitan area. Crafted with significant public input, this type of study produces preliminary costs, project benefits and potential environmental impacts of various alternatives and transportation modes. The MIS will also identify all reasonable alternative strategies for addressing mobility and accessibility needs and concerns in the Airport corridor.
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How will the new roadway or transit system be funded?
An important part of the study is the development of funding plans to support the transportation alternatives that will be chosen for further analysis and environmental study. There is an active Finance Work Group, which includes representation from the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and state agencies, working on financial options as part of the stuff effort. The analysis of funding scenarios and options is underway and will be included in the final report.
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How will the Airport Multimodal Corridor Study impact traffic in downtown Pittsburgh?
The Airport Multimodal Corridor Study is coordinating its efforts with other transportation studies, including the Eastern Corridor Transit Study, Pennsylvania High-Speed Maglev EIS, and the North Shore Connector Project. As part of this study effort, an analysis of existing transportation and transit patterns in downtown Pittsburgh will be closely examined to ensure convenient and efficient transportation connections between destinations in Oakland, Downtown and the Airport corridors.
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