PITTSBURGH — Residents of Westmoreland County, Pa., will get another chance to look at aerial maps showing two routes proposed in the county for a high-speed magnetic levitation train, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The maps, shown last month at a public hearing at the Four Points Hotel by Sheraton, east of Greensburg, will be on display again at 7 tonight at the Penn Township municipal building in Harrison City as part of the annual meeting of the Conservation Association of the Penn Township Area, or CAPA, a citizens group.
The maglev train also will be the focal point of the meeting, CAPA President Tom Transue said Wednesday.
“Some people didn’t get to Greensburg (to see the maps last month),” Transue said, “so we’re just going to have another opportunity to look at what they’re proposing.”
The Port Authority of Allegheny County, the public entity involved in the maglev project, gave the aerial depictions to municipal elected officials in the county a few days ago.
Penn Township Manager Bruce Light said a change has been made to the maps for this evening’s session.
“The only difference is, we took it upon ourselves to add 30 labels of landmarks so people can get easily oriented,” he said.
The maglev train uses magnetic levitation over an elevated track and could travel at speeds up to 240 mph. The proposed system would connect Pittsburgh and its international airport with Monroeville and a magport, or station, near Greengate Mall, west of Greensburg.
Proponents of maglev say the train will speed up travel to and from Pittsburgh, bring thousands of jobs to the area and promote economic development in western Pennsylvania. The trip from Greensburg to the airport would take about 28 minutes.
Residents from Penn and Hempfield townships as well as other communities have been objecting to the two routes now being considered through Westmoreland County as part of an environmental impact study. Those routes are expected to be reduced to one, probably this summer. The study is to be completed by the end of this year and then be submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration for possible project awarding.
Western Pennsylvania is competing with the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area to have the first maglev system in the United States and for the $950 million in upfront money. The rail administration is expected to decide which project will get the startup and construction funding in early 2003.
One of the two routes being reviewed in Westmoreland County basically would cut a swath through Penn Township. That alignment would generally run through an expansion area of the Valley Landfill, through the residential developments of Oak Farms and Campbell Farms Estates, and through Claridge. It also would go near the Grandview Fire Hall and Shramm’s Farm and Orchard before connecting with the magport near Greengate.
“We’re going to see if we can help them to get this route moved,” Transue said of the alignment that cuts through Penn Township’s middle.
The other proposed route would slice through Murrysville’s business district, running parallel with routes 22 and 66, before connecting with the magport near Greensburg.
Both routes currently under consideration are depicted on the maps to be displayed this evening, Light said.
The aerial renditions, themselves, have come under fire because they are at least 5 years old and do not reflect some of the development occurring in the county. That includes Campbell Farms Estate, which is shown only as an agricultural area on maglev’s aerials.
Transue said CAPA representatives and two Penn Township commissioners — Charles Horvat and Kenneth Darragh — met Feb. 25 in Monroeville with maglev officials. At that time, the township representatives proposed another route that would basically run along the Harrisburg-Pittsburgh railroad corridor.
Transue said maglev personnel said they would review the suggestion, which Transue said disturbed him.
“If they (earlier) looked at all the options, specifically the option we showed them, they should be able to go back to their office and show why that’s not a viable option” immediately, not weeks later, he said.
“(The railroad route) is the only alternative that would not impact Murrysville, Hempfield Township or <#201> Penn Township,” said Horvat, who is chairman of the Penn Township Board of Commissioners. “That’s the only route we could see that would produce the speed that they say they need in their design <#201> and (maglev officials) discounted it.
“We looked at the current maps and there are no houses that we can see (in the railroad corridor),” Horvat said.
Transue said “conceptually” he likes maglev, “but I don’t like it in towns, homes, the landfill.”
Transue said CAPA also will use this evening’s meeting to discuss finances and fund-raising efforts, and to update residents on the Boldan landfill project and the Allegheny Energy Inc. power plant that previously was proposed near Claridge, the impetus for CAPA’s founding.
Maglev has helped in CAPA’s membership drive. The train also has produced more harmony between Penn Township elected leaders and CAPA.
Although Transue and some others in CAPA do not have their minds made up about maglev, Transue said his thinking is firm in other ways.
“I’m not directly affected by maglev, but I want to do what’s right,” he said. “Same with the Boldan landfill.”