PennDOT Grant Funds Benefit Revitalization, River Negotiations

By Jonathan Weaver

Two current Armstrong County projects received state grant money from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) yesterday, totaling more than $3.1 million.

The ongoing Downtown Kittanning Improvement Project along Market Street and ongoing negotiations between the Allegheny River Development Corporation in their effort to allow recreational boating in Locks #6-9 will both receive a boost in funding that will allow them to close in on their funding goals.

Kittanning Borough was awarded $3 million for the second phase of the project – which will include traffic signal upgrades, curb extensions, improved pedestrian crossings, new pedestrian signal equipment, and coordinating all traffic signals along Market Street.

Senator Don White noted the grant funding follows a more-than $217,000 Transportation Alternatives Grant awarded in mid-August for paving and pedestrian improvements along Jacob Street – part of the initial 2014 paving project. He said the grants will complement the work accomplished as M&B Services contractors from Clarion complete Phase 1 of the Market Street improvements.

“All told, this represents an investment of about $6 million in state and local funding for work to enhance the downtown area,” Senator White said in a news release. “Through this work, we will see major improvements with the removal and relocation of overhead utilities, sidewalk replacement, construction of safer pedestrian crossing areas, decorative historic-style street lights and mast-arm traffic signals, new street trees, street resurfacing and new signs. This is truly an exciting time for the borough, its residents and its businesses.”

Mayor Kirk Atwood and Borough Council President Randy Cloak credited the dedication and close partnership between the borough and its state legislators with generating the support for the downtown improvement work.

“We certainly appreciate the enthusiasm and efforts of Senator White and Representative (Jeff) Pyle in working to improve the community,” they said. “The partnership between the borough and state has generated positive results. We are excited to move Kittanning forward and anticipate continuing these efforts in the future to bring about the positive changes that will benefit the people we represent.”

Donations are being taken for the revitalization project through the Armstrong County Community Foundation based on South Jefferson Street.

Representative Pyle also was a key factor in the Allegheny River Development Corporation receiving their first grant funds in the amount of $120,000, President Linda Hemmes said.

“Jeff Pyle called me a couple weeks ago. I went down and worked at it for probably three hours,” Hemmes said. “On the 19th of September, we submitted it and PennDOT loved it because it is something that will hopefully positively-effect the river and Armstrong County tourism.

“Jeff has been pretty-tirelessly lobbying on our behalf. It’s very exciting – it takes an enormous load off of us.”

To provide one example of how much the lock closures have affected tourism, Hemmes provided a statistic from Tourist Bureau Director Kevin Andrews that dining revenue has dropped $400,000 since the locks closed to recreational boats.

“When Kevin showed us those numbers, I about fell over,” Hemmes said. “That’s significant.”

Directors estimated last year it would take a total of about $150,000 to operate the locks full-time on weekends between May and October. Negotiations with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to utilize ‘contributed funds’ to ‘buy time’ to operate the locks and form a memorandum of understanding resume on Tuesday, November 4.

Both Kittanning Borough and the Allegheny River Development Corporation will have to pay a 30 percent match to acquire the grant proceeds.

These grants were made possible by Act 89, which increased transit funding and established dedicated multimodal funding for aviation, passenger rail, rail freight, port and bicycle-pedestrian projects. The project funding comes from three state fiscal years of Act 89 investments.

PennDOT evaluated the applications and made selections based on such criteria as safety benefits, regional economic conditions, the technical and financial feasibility, job creation, energy efficiency and operational sustainability.

“All types of transportation drive our economy and Act 89 gave us the tools to ensure our non-highway modes receive the funding they need to maintain a connected transportation system,” PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch said.

“These are vital investments that underscore Governor Corbett’s dedication to improving transportation in communities across the state.”

The local funding grants were two of more than 90 made statewide yesterday for both multimodal entities and transit agencies.

Grant funding was also distributed regionally throughout Indiana, Westmoreland and Allegheny Counties – such as in Homer City Borough for revitalization along Main Street, in Burrell Township for a multi-purpose pedestrian bridge over Route 22 and streetscape improvements near Saint Vincent College