If Port Authority and Pittsburgh planners can solve two important issues, they expect to choose a route for the proposed Bus Rapid Transit system through Oakland by the end of April.
But those are difficult issues: where to provide stops for paratransit vehicles such as Access, and how to get delivery trucks to businesses in the neighborhood. The system is designed to reduce travel time between Downtown and Oakland by using electric vehicles on dedicated lanes.
Amy Silbermann, senior planning analyst for the Port Authority, told a forum held Friday by the Oakland Business Improvement District that planners are analyzing the needs of both services. Paratransit, in particular, must make curbside drop-offs and pickups.
The vehicles can’t use regular curbside lanes in Oakland because they would slow buses using that lane. One possibility, Ms. Silbermann said, is dedicated corner parking spots on side streets.
Planners of the system, which could cost $200 million to $240 million, are considering two options for moving through Oakland. One would place inbound buses on Fifth Avenue and outbound ones on Forbes; the other would put all buses on Fifth Avenue.
Justin Miller, the city’s principal transportation planner, said the preferred route is to use both streets because it would be more difficult to provide bicycle lanes on Forbes if bus traffic is on Fifth Avenue only. Bicycles could travel the lane used for outbound buses on Fifth Avenue if the electric BRT vehicles use both streets.
The vehicles would be about the size of an articulated bus, which can carry about 100 passengers, and leave every 3 to 5 minutes in peak times.
Jonathan Winkler, a spokesman for the business group, said the organization has not taken a position on a route.
Officials also are reviewing whether to stop the system just past the University of Pittsburgh or include branches to the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway at Neville Street, and to Squirrel Hill and Highland Park.
Public meetings will be held from noon to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Alumni Hall in Oakland to gather input on the project.
Once the route through Oakland is chosen, planners will shift attention to deciding which of the branches, if any, should be included in the project. There will be additional public meetings that will include recommendations for the locations of stations before planners submit the project to federal officials for funding in September.
Port Authority CEO Ellen McLean told the authority board Friday the agency had received feedback from more than 1,000 people through public meetings and an online survey.
If funding is approved, the system could be operating in 2021.
In addition to improving travel time between Oakland and Downtown, the project is designed to rebuild Fifth and Forbes avenues in the city's Uptown neighborhood.
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1470.
First Published: March 31, 2017, 2:16 p.m.
Updated: April 1, 2017, 4:34 a.m.
