Crews hustle to finish subway extension to North Shore

With a service debut a little more than five weeks away, Port Authority is running trains through the North Shore Connector and hustling to complete more than 1,000 separate systems tests in the 1.2-mile subway extension.

"Things are fast and furious, kind of like just before a wedding," said Winston Simmonds, the authority's rail operations/engineering officer, during a briefing for a board committee on Wednesday.

Passenger service on the $523.4 million extension is scheduled to begin March 25. The authority is preparing an educational campaign that will feature advertising, special Web pages and a YouTube video shot from a rail vehicle as it made its way through the new tunnels beneath the Allegheny River.

The connector extends the Light Rail Transit system from a new Gateway Center station, Downtown, to two new stations across the river. The underground station near PNC Park is, for now, North Side station, and the elevated station adjacent to Heinz Field is Allegheny station, but the authority is hoping to sell naming rights for both.

Construction is virtually complete, Mr. Simmonds said, with only minor "punch list" work remaining.

Tests are under way on communications systems, emergency phones that are placed throughout the tunnel, ventilation systems, circuit breakers, elevators and escalators, among other systems, he said. Vehicle operators are being trained in the nuances of the new segment.

The water-damaged Romare Bearden mural from the old Gateway Center station has been restored and installed in the new Gateway station, which will have another distinctive artwork that is already visible to passersby.

On a corner of the station's plaza, etched in granite pavers, is a map of the Golden Triangle as it was in 1795, when Fort Pitt stood at the Point.

The map was sculpted by Granites of America, a Rhode Island company, which used sandblasting to etch it into the granite pavers. It is part of a $1.6 million plaza project around the new subway station. The project was funded by The Heinz Endowments, Colcom Foundation and Pittsburgh Foundation, along with a $200,000 grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and a $253,000 federal transportation enhancements grant.

When connector service begins, all rides to the North Shore will be free for a brief time. After April 1, rides from Downtown to the North Side station will remain free but trips to Allegheny station will require a full $2.25 Zone 1 fare.

The free rides to the North Side station are underwritten by the Pittsburgh Stadium Authority and Alco Parking in hopes of attracting commuters to park in North Shore lots and garages and ride the T into Downtown.

The idea of a subway linking Downtown to the North Side has been under discussion as far back as 1906. The current project dates to 1994, when the authority began a study of rail links to Oakland and the North Side. The study was briefly canceled in 1996, then resurrected with only the North Side project. Construction began in November 2006.

Jon Schmitz: jschmitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1868. Visit the PG's transportation blog, The Roundabout, at www.post-gazette.com/roundabout . Twitter: @pgtraffic.

First published on February 16, 2012 at 12:00 am