Trains ready to roll under the river to North Shore

A sneak peek at the Port Authority's $523.4 million light-rail extension

Whether it will win over its many critics is anyone's guess, but the Port Authority's $523.4 million light-rail extension to the North Shore is certain to be a civic conversation piece for years to come.

Starting March 25, for the first time in Pittsburgh's storied history, people will travel under a river, in twin tunnels bored about 20 feet below the bottom of the Allegheny. The 1.2-mile North Shore Connector will link a new Gateway Center Station at Liberty Avenue and Stanwix Street, Downtown, with an underground station near PNC Park and an elevated station near Heinz Field.

Authority officials provided a sneak preview on Monday, taking reporters and photographers on a round trip of the new leg. It started at Gateway, an underground station that is enclosed in glass to let natural light stream to the platform.

"It's a tunnel station that allows sunlight to come through. That's a unique characteristic," said Winston Simmonds, the authority's rail operations/engineering officer.

The huge circular concrete pillars that support the station rise at angles from the waiting platform, a design feature likely to bewilder and fascinate visitors (but were necessary to fit escalators into the available space). Stainless steel sign posts are also angled rather than straight. The Romare Bearden mural that was removed from the old station was restored tile by tile and reinstalled (keeping the mistake of one tile that is upside down).

From Gateway, trains snake their way under the river in tunnels that descend to duck the river and curve to avoid conflicts with structures above ground, including the baseball stadium. It takes less than two minutes to reach the new North Side Station, both cavernous and visually appealing with metal-skinned walls and a high, concave ceiling. It is beneath the West General Robinson Street parking garage and catercorner to where Honus Wagner's statue resides outside the baseball park.