Pittsburgh Ties Stormwater Management to Transportation

When Pittsburgh officials proposed a new transportation system through Greenfield in 2015, residents around Schenley Park revolted. For more than a decade, they had been warning the city about chronic flooding along that very route.

Now, city officials have come back with two plans meant to address both concerns: a $41 million stormwater management plan and a redesigned, low-speed shuttle system.

The stormwater project—the largest in the city's history—would add capacity to Panther Hollow Lake in Schenley Park and create an open trench system to carry water to the Monongahela River, Ed Blazina explains in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It would also add new trails, picnic areas, and other amenities to the park.

But residents worry that the needed flood-control assistance will be tied to a transit project that even transit advocates have said would favor the Hazelwood Green development and Carnegie Mellon over neighborhoods. The proposed on-demand shuttle service would travel at low speeds and take a new path through Junction Hollow between Hazelwood and Oakland. The route is not finalized, and public comment is open.