February 3, 2020
Press Release
Mayor William Peduto joined URA Executive Director Greg Flisram, Deputy Executive Director Diamonte Walker, staff from Representative Ed Gainey’s office and Councilman Reverend Ricky Burgess’s office, key stakeholders, and members of the community for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday to celebrate the Homewood Pedestrian Improvement Project. Through this project, $1,089,359 was directly invested into the community.
“Homewood is vital to Pittsburgh’s future,” Mayor William Peduto said. “The Homewood Pedestrian Improvement Project concentrates investment in the neighborhood’s infrastructure, improving quality of life for its residents and visitors.”
The goal of the project was to connect Homewood residents to the business district, neighborhood school, and the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway by investing in the pedestrian realm, improving safety and beautifying the neighborhood (The infrastructure priorities were identified in the neighborhood’s Cluster Plan, Safe Routes to School Plan, and Homewood TOD study).
Improvements included:
- New pedestrian scale lighting, street trees, and street furniture, including benches, trash receptables, and bike racks on Homewood Avenue between the East Busway and Hamilton Avenue
- New crosswalks and ADA ramps along pedestrian paths to Faison School and the East Busway
- Sidewalk and curb replacement along Tioga Street to ensure pedestrian safety — Sidewalks in many areas along Tioga Street were completely missing or damaged causing pedestrians to walk in the streets.
- Flashing school speed limit signage on Tioga Street
- Traffic calming on Finance Street — Speed humps were installed on Finance Street to discourage speeding, as well as the truck traffic that uses this residential street and school route as a pass-through.
Additionally, the project will leverage a planned rehabilitation of the Port Authority of Allegheny County’s Homewood Avenue and Braddock Avenue Bridges.
“I want to thank all of our partners for helping to bring this project to fruition,” said URA Deputy Executive Director Diamonte Walker. “Special commendation to the Homewood residents, particularly those in cluster four. These residents put the pedestrian safety needs of Homewood children first, which will more broadly benefit residents and businesses along the corridor.”
The project was a partnership between the Mayor’s Office and the City’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, the URA, Representative Ed Gainey’s Office, Councilman Burgess’s office, Homewood Community Development Collaborative, Port Authority, Operation Better Block, Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, and Pittsburgh Public Schools. Funding was provided by the Transportation Alternatives Program through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.
