Station Square - Pittsburgh, PA
N 40° 25.906 W 080° 00.204
17T E 584532 N 4476157
The Station Square T Station is located on West Carson Street (State Route 837) at the Smithfield Street Bridge in Pittsburgh City, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Waymark Code: WMHRK5
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 08/09/2013
Views: 5
"Name" Station - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
About the Port Authority of Allegheny County LRT System
PAT, working with community representatives and government officials, undertook a detailed
study on the future of the South Hills trolley lines, resolving to transform these valuable,
high-density transit corridors into a modern LRT system. The resulting Stage I LRT plan achieved
a comprehensive reconstruction and upgrading of the 10.5 mile "main line" between downtown and the
suburbs of Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair via Mount Lebanon and Beechview -- basically following the Skybus alignment.
The crowning achievement was to be a 1.1 mile downtown subway, eliminating the trolleys' slow, street-running loop through Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle.
On December 10, 1980 after receiving federal funding, the Port Authority began construction on Stage One of its first "modern" light rail/subway service, the "T",
which used a former Pittsburgh Railways trolley route to connect Downtown Pittsburgh to the South Hills. Stage One began with two construction projects
- the downtown subway
- former trolley route from the newly constructed South Hills Village Station and Light Rail Maintenance Center to Castle Shannon
both ends working toward the middle section of the route.
The first modern light rail cars began operation from South Hills Village to Castle Shannon on April 15, 1984
with the downtown subway added to the system on July 3, 1985. The last leg of the modern suburban "Beechview" line
(from Castle Shannon to South Hills Junction via Mt. Lebanon and Beechview) was approved for funding May 8, 1985
with $20 million in federal grants and completed the modern system on May 22, 1987 at a total cost of $522 million.
The suburban line in the south hills were former streetcar lines that had been rehabilitated to accommodate light rail vehicles.
The Beechview line was reconstructed (being completely double tracked) and routed from the South Hills Junction through the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel,
emerging at a newly constructed station at Station Squarebefore crossing the Monongahela river on the Panhandle Bridge (a former railway bridge), which then
led into a newly built downtown (cut and cover tunnel) subway with four stations, which incorporated the nineteenth century Pittsburgh & Steubenville Extension
Railroad Tunnel. The downtown subway had four stations, Steel Plaza, Wood Street, Gateway Center, and Penn Station. The original subway branched north of Steel Plaza
with one branch heading west to Wood Street and one branch heading east to Penn Station.
The transformation was remarkable. The former trolley route with sections of single track was transformed into a modern light rail system with double track and
welded rail. Upon completion of the subway, all former streetcar lines were removed from the surface streets of Downtown Pittsburgh.
The North Shore Connector
The North Shore Connector is a light-rail extension opened in 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The connector extends the Pittsburgh Light Rail system from its
previous terminus at Gateway Center Station in the Central Business District to the new North Side Station and Allegheny Station on the North Shore by way of a tunnel
under the Allegheny River. The Connector extends the light rail system's "Free Fare Zone", enabling passengers to ride to and from Pittsburgh's rapidly growing
North Shore neighborhood for free.
Planned since the late 1990s, the North Shore Connector received federal funding on February 6, 2004 and had crews complete the initial bore under the river on
July 10, 2008. The Connector had a "soft opening" on Friday, March 23, 2012, with regular service beginning March 25, 2012. The final cost of the project was
$523.4 million.
ABOUT THIS StationThis station is named for the nearby mixed-use development Station Square. The station was not originally planned; instead, the light rail system was to bypass the newly-created development because officials felt that there would not be enough ridership demand to justify the station. Active lobbying by Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr., President of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, and developer of Station Square ensured that the station was constructed. Over 3 million tourists visit Station Square each year. Many South Hills residents access the facility using light rail service, and employees at the adjacent major office park, which includes the headquarters of WESCO International are also major beneficiaries of the stop. Several thousand commuters each weekday also rely on this stop as a park-and-ride station, using either a 160 space Port Authority lot or the privately owned garage Station Square .
The station's close proximity to the Monongahela Incline, South Busway, Carson and Smithfield Streets, and the large parking facilities and boat docks of the Gateway Clipper Fleet at Station Square add to the station's inter-modal transportation value.
Originally designed and built by Daniel Sifer, the station encompasses railings rescued by Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation from the Brady Street Bridge, which was demolished in 1978. In the late 1990s, DRS Architects renovated the station and provided architectural details in glass that reflected the design in the Brady Street Bridge railings.
Information excerpted from Wikipedia