Pittsburgh officials to review Alcosan improvement plans

The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority faces a challenge as it works to implement a $2 billion plan to upgrade its system by 2036 — and it has nothing to do with sewage.

Alcosan’s sprawling complex at its Woods Run treatment plant in Pittsburgh’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood is squeezed between the Ohio River, railroad tracks and Route 65, Alcosan spokesman Joey Vallarian said Thursday.

When Pittsburgh Planning Commission meets Tuesday, its members will review plans for a new parking garage and environmental compliance building it hopes to begin building in May.

The five-level garage will replace a surface lot and will be built first. The compliance building will be finished by May 2022, Vallarian said.

“We have to get creative,” he said of the plans, because of the situation involving the river and the railroad tracks.

“It is exciting to see the footprint of this plant change. This will be interesting,” Vallarian said.

The moves will allow Alcosan to tear down other buildings at it works to implement the Clean Water Plan mandated by federal and state environmental agencies to reduce sewage overflows in the system.

The plan was approved by a federal judge last May. It replaced a previous plan approved in 2008 and extends a deadline for completion to 2036.

It includes a project to expand capacity of the treatment plant and will also improve 200 miles of sewers that run through several municipalities so stormwater and groundwater doesn’t seep into the system.

To view the Clean Water Plan, click here.

After reviewing the plans next week, the Planning Commission will consider approving them at its Jan. 26 meeting.