Development & Transportation

Urban Redevelopment Authority Chairman Kevin Acklin resigned from his post Thursday in anticipation of his new role as senior vice president of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Acklin will oversee the Penguins' development of the former Civic Arena site in the Hill District -- a project that has caused strife between the URA and the Penguins in the past.

The state Department of Community and Economic Development has rejected an Office of Open Records decision that it must release its proposal to attract Amazon’s second headquarters, or HQ2, to Pennsylvania. 

One of the biggest costs of having a job is getting there. Figuring out how to decrease the time and money spent commuting was the focus of Mobiliti, a workshop held in Pittsburgh last week. Residents, employers, and technology companies worked together to hammer out possible solutions.

Kevin Acklin, Mayor Bill Peduto’s former chief of staff, will become senior vice president of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team announced today. In addition, Acklin will oversee development of the former Civic Arena site.

The first major development at Hazelwood Green is underway, with decades of construction to come. 

It’s not hyperbole to say that no contemporary transit proposal has received as much hype as the Hyperloop — Elon Musk’s concept for intercity travel at nearly supersonic speeds seemingly inspired by the pneumatic tubes common at banks’ drive-thru teller windows.

In an informational session at Pittsburgh City Council Thursday, three invited panelists answered members’ questions about privatization and public-private partnerships as they pertain to Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.

Uber has agreed to pay $148 million and take steps to tighten data security, after the ride-hailing company failed for a year to notify drivers that hackers had stolen their personal information.

Pittsburgh International Airport will soon break ground on its World Trade Center site. The 195-acre development is expected to host energy and advanced manufacturing facilities.

Allegheny County first paid for a World Trade Center designation decades ago, but its purpose has only recently come into focus, said Vince Gastgeb, the airport’s vice president of government and community affairs.

The City of Pittsburgh says a five-block bike lane is coming to the Strip District, on Smallman Street between 16th and 21st streets. It's part of a larger redesign of the stretch, which will likely reconfigure parking by the Produce Terminal.

On Friday the board of the Allegheny County Airport Authority voted to prohibit members from directly investing in airlines.

The amendment to the authority’s administrative policy handbook comes after two board members, Jan Rea and vice chairman Robert Lewis, acknowledged their investments in OneJet.

Hundreds of millions of gallons of stormwater flow into Pittsburgh’s sewer system during hard rains, which results in chronic flooding and sewage backups. A massive green infrastructure project slated for Four Mile Run could significantly reduce those problems, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority officials said.

Drivers will no longer have to endure traffic headaches associated with the Liberty Bridge rehabilitation project, now that the 2-and-a-half-year-long project has wrapped up. 

Residents can offer feedback on Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority’s proposed rate increases for water and sewer conveyance at a series of public hearings this week.

There should be a word for the particular kind of helpless rage that comes from waiting – in the cold, in the heat, in the rain –for a bus or train to materialize, especially if it was due several minutes ago.

Residents and supporters marched out of Hazelwood on Irvine Street Monday morning in an attempt to force changes to the busy road. Because of the neighborhood’s geography — squeezed between a hillside and the Monongahela River — the state-owned street is a principal entry and exit point.

But while it’s marked at 25 mph, many drivers take Irvine much faster.

While it does have a sidewalk, many parts of it are overgrown or uneven. In Pennsylvania, sidewalk maintenance is the responsibility of property owners.

Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure Wednesday night convened a public meeting on the planned renovation of Smallman Street in the Strip District, just three weeks after a similar event.

Partial light rail service will resume Thursday at Station Square, Port Authority officials said.

For most of its history, Hazelwood was a hopping place: it had LTV Steel’s coke works, a trolley line to downtown, a busy shopping district. But like a lot of neighborhoods, Hazelwood suffered during Pittsburgh’s economic decline.

Outside Courtroom 426, a small shoal of bicycle-safety advocates gathered in a semicircle, seemingly dazed by their unexpected good fortune.

The board of the Urban Redevelopment Authority approved next steps for Pittsburgh’s bus rapid transit project on Thursday. City of Pittsburgh and Port Authority officials are preparing to re-submit a federal funding request.

Pennsylvania is dedicating more money to repair roads damaged by the cold season as part of its Resurface PA initiative. The program was started by Gov. Tom Wolf in May to patch damage from the winter season. 

As person after person stepped through the door of Peace, Love and Zen – a wellness center  in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood last week, they joined the awkward circle people make when they expect to be members of an audience. They were lit by the gentle glow of the wellness center’s Himalayan salt lamps, set into cubbies near the ceiling.

The community benefits agreement finalized with UPMC Mercy last week is very different from the Lower Hill agreement struck with the Pittsburgh Penguins, said city Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, who was party to both negotiations.