Monday, October 25, 2010

Is Pittsburgh in the eye of (the) TIGER?

Yes, we can say that Pittsburgh made it finally – it is in the eye of the TIGER. Of course, we do not mean the striped feline but the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery or, in short, TIGER.
On October 20th, DOT’s Secretary Ray LaHood announced the second series of grant recipients through the TIGER initiative. From nearly 1000 applicants, only seventy-five projects did receive any grant money in the final. Forty –two capital construction projects and 33 planning projects will share about $600 million in grants from the TIGER II program. [Read the press release here]
And our own city of Pittsburgh has received $825,000 towards a project focused on developing an existing six-mile riverfront rail corridor right-of-way to a multimodal transportation network including pedestrian and bike trails as well as passenger-rail operations. Called the Allegheny Riverfront Green Boulevard, it will start downtown Pittsburgh and stretch eastbound towards Westmoreland County. The project will use industrial land in order to promote viable transportation alternatives (and all the drivers on the Parkway East know how much these alternatives are needed) and “supports partnerships and best practices that could provide cross-cutting lessons for other communities” [1]. Therefore, the grant will also be used to support research for the best way to win a community challenge.
Way to go, Pittsburgh!
[1] For a complete list of TIGER II recipients for planning projects here : http://www.dot.gov/docs/tiger2planninggrantinfo.pdf
Details about the “Allegheny Riverfront Green Boulevard”on p.6

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