Allegheny County opens applications for alternative transportation grants
Allegheny County said Friday it is accepting applications for its Active Allegheny Grant Program, which doles out funding to communities looking to develop alternative transportation projects.
The county said in a news release that eligible projects include those that provide bicycle and pedestrian connections and increase residents’ opportunities for physical activity, as well as money to establish active transportation plans for municipalities.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said the grants are intended to help improve non-car transportation throughout the county, especially for smaller municipalities that might not have the budgets to provide these amenities on their own.
“We know that bicycle and pedestrian connections can benefit our communities by helping to conserve energy, decrease pollution and traffic congestion and by providing health benefits and economic advantages,” said Fitzgerald.
Past project recipients have included traffic-calming road design in Dormont and bike and pedestrian trails in the Alle-Kiski Valley.
Momentum has been growing in Allegheny County to support mobility that can be accomplished without access to a private vehicle. Both the city and the county have been expanding bike infrastructure, and Fitzgerald is confident that transit officials can expand the East Busway into the Mon Valley. Efforts also have grown to help ensure that dense housing development can be built near busway stations, so people can live within easy access to the region’s high-frequency public transit.
The Active Allegheny grants are managed by the county’s redevelopment authority, and applicants can ask for up to $50,000 for planning and engineering projects. Any higher requests will need extra approval by the county’s redevelopment authority.
The deadline to submit applications is 4 p.m. May 27. For more information, Allegheny County transportation planner Anthony Schneider can be reached by phone at 412.350.1360 or email at anthony.schneider@alleghenycounty.us.
Ryan Deto is a TribLive reporter covering politics, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County news. A native of California’s Bay Area, he joined the Trib in 2022 after spending more than six years covering Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh City Paper, including serving as managing editor. He can be reached at rdeto@triblive.com.
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