Casey, Ravenstahl Discuss $1.5 Million for Allegheny Riverfront Green Boulevard Planning Project 

PITTSBURGH, PA – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today joined Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to visit the Allegheny riverfront in the Lawrenceville neighborhood to discuss the announcement of $1.5 million in joint U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding for the Allegheny Riverfront Green Boulevard Planning project under the federal TIGER II/Community Challenge programs. Senator Casey and Mayor Ravenstahl were joined by representatives from U.S. DOT, U.S. HUD, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Riverlife.
 
“This funding is great news for the Allegheny Riverfront and the entire City of Pittsburgh,” said Senator Casey.  “This project will help reconnect downtown Pittsburgh to the eastern edge of the city and its riverfront, providing opportunities to improve quality of life and encourage economic development.”
 
“I am very thankful to Senator Casey and our partners in the federal government for recognizing the significance of this project, which is a central recommendation of the Allegheny Riverfront Masterplan,” said Ravenstahl. “This project will create and conserve green space along the riverfront, while increasing the number of pedestrian, transit, and cyclist trips through the area. By improving this neighborhood transportation system, job creation and development will continue to flourish along these riverfront neighborhoods.”
 
The Green Boulevard project received $825,000 from the DOT’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER II) planning grant program and $675,000 from HUD’s Community Challenge planning grant program.  It will expand the current usage of the existing freight line along the Allegheny river to create a 6.45-mile “green spine” connecting neighborhoods along the Allegheny riverfront and spurring future development for housing and commerce along the corridor.  The planning will reflect recent city wide strategies on housing and ecological restoration. Work on the project is expected to begin in January 2011.
 
Congress provided $600 million for “TIGER II” grants in the bill that funded the U.S.  Department of Transportation in fiscal year 2010.  As with the original TIGER program, which was established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded these funds through a competitive process to projects that will have a significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area or a region.
 
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