Pittsburgh Gets $150 Million Grant For Bus Rapid Transit System

PITTSBURGH, PA — Pittsburgh Regional Transit has secured a $150 million Federal Transit Administration grant the Downtown-Uptown-Oakland Bus Rapid Transit project. All of the funding now is in place to build the $291 million system, officials announced Tuesday.

Dubbed the University Line, the system will include 23 new stations, exclusive transit-only and bicycle lanes, intersection improvements, accessible ramps, and more. The system will impact more than 30,000 people a day in the Downtown-Uptown-Oakland corridor and provide more efficient transit service to and from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University, Point Park University and Carlow University.

Officials said the University Line also will improve transit service reliability, reduce bus

bunching, and will allow PRT to redeploy the hours saved elsewhere in Allegheny County.

“The Downtown-Uptown-Oakland BRT line will improve transit speed and reliability on one of the highest transit ridership corridors in Pittsburgh,” said FTA Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool, who joined local officials at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center to announce the grant. "We are pleased to support this project that will better connect communities to jobs and education."

In addition to the $150 million federal grant, the University Line is being funded through the American Rescue Plan ($19.3 million), the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Program ($9.3 million), Allegheny County ($30 million), the City of Pittsburgh ($8.8 million), and Pittsburgh Regional Transit.

The first phase of construction is expected to begin Downtown this fall.