Residents ramp up calls for public transportation in A-K Valley communities

Alle-Kiski Valley communities are lobbying the Allegheny County Port Authority to extend a bus route that would connect residents to local shopping and business hubs.

Led by the community group Building Block of Natrona, the petition asks the Port Authority to extend the 1 Freeport Road bus route from the current end point at the Tarentum park and ride at Fourth Avenue, under the Tarentum Bridge, to the Walmart Supercenter in Natrona Heights.

“We realize that we’re small in population, but our needs are just as great,” said Tricia Ritchie, president of Building Block of Natrona.

The group held the last of four meetings to rally support for extending the 1 Route on Monday at the Brackenridge Municipal Building. Three other rallies took place throughout January in Natrona, Sheldon Park and Tarentum.

About a dozen residents attended the last meeting to meet with Port Authority officials and to sign the petition, which has garnered more than 500 signatures since it launched at community meetings and service events in October, Ritchie said.

The extended 1 Route would serve several public housing complexes and connect low-income and senior residents with places to buy fresh groceries and job opportunities, Ritchie said.

“The young kids are really suffering because they can’t get jobs,” said Crystal Mar of Brackenridge, who came to the meeting Monday to sign the petition.

Brackenridge, along with parts of neighboring Tarentum and Natrona, is located along the Allegheny River. Residents who don’t have cars need to walk uphill and along Freeport Road — a busy, four-lane commercial roadway — to reach necessities like grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, doctor’s offices and other businesses.

Mar moved to Brackenridge from Pittsburgh about four months ago and said she was surprised by the lack of public transit options.

She doesn’t drive, and a bus route would help her get to the grocery store or a pharmacy, she said.

“They’ve got all those stores, but there’s no way to get to them,” said Harry McKay, another Brackenridge resident who signed the petition Monday evening.

The Port Authority will consider a variety of factors, including whether the service can be provided efficiently and in a way that is cost-effective, as it evaluates new and extended routes throughout the county, said David Huffaker, the authority’s chief development officer.

Routes that foster equity — the ability to access necessities like fresh food, medical care and jobs — will be a factor, Huffaker said.

“I think that’s what we’re hearing tonight,” he said.

Communities throughout the Mon Valley and parts of the North Hills are facing similar challenges, Huffaker said.

Building Block of Natrona will coordinate a “Love Your Community Day” Feb. 9 to circulate more petitions. The group plans to hand over the signatures to the Port Authority in March.

Petitions will be available at the end of Sunday services at First United Presbyterian Church of Tarentum and at Grace United Methodist Church in Natrona Heights, Ritchie said.

Those interested in signing also can find the petition online at everyblockcounts.org.

“I just think it’s something to let everybody, let Pittsburgh know, that there’s things in the periphery, that people have needs,” said Paul Valasek, founder of the Brackenridge Improvement Group, which organizes community projects in Brackenridge.

While the Port Authority works on a long-term plan to improve transit throughout the county, Valasek urged them to consider short-term solutions — like partnerships with private businesses to offer shuttle services to shopping hubs — that could meet residents’ needs immediately.

The Port Authority is hosting a series of community meetings to accompany a long-term planning process that will outline public transit options in Allegheny County through 2045. The first of those meetings will start at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.

A session serving the Alle-Kiski Valley will be held at the Springdale Veterans Association at 5 p.m. April 1.

The session will be recorded and feedback will be collected online for those who can’t attend, Huffaker said.