The Southwestern Pennsylvania Corporation, a 501(c)(3) corporation, on behalf of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), is requesting Technical Proposals and Price Proposals (together, the Proposal package) for Regional Travel Demand Model Update/Enhancements Consultant Services. The selected firm or team of firms will assist SPC with developing a new, calibrated suite of travel models for the SPC region, incorporating current data and latest modeling best practices.
Read more »THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT AND REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.
Please join us online at https://www.youtube.com/@spcregion to view the livestream.
If you are interested in attending in person please email dalwine@spcregion.org. Please note we cannot guarantee available space.
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) is hosting a Regional Broadband Summit on February 16, 2023 from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township, Butler County. This event will educate local governments, non-profits, partners and the public about the state of the region’s connectivity, community funding opportunities and available resources (programmatic and infrastructure), current and future legislation considerations, and other important issues. The summit includes standalone sessions on various federal, state, and regional initiatives, a keynote speaker, and other networking opportunities.
Read more »To our valued Members, Planning Partners and Colleagues:
As this year draws to an end, I must begin with a heartfelt thank you to our Members, whose communities comprise the region we at SPC are honored to serve. It is your unwavering support that enables and inspires us to do our best work every day, work that ultimately improves the quality of life for our region’s residents.
Thank you to our Planning Partners, without whose contributions our work would be impossible. It is your intimate knowledge of the needs of your communities and programs that informs and guides our commitment to keep southwestern Pennsylvania connected and moving forward.
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November 14 – 18 , 2022 is Crash Responder Safety Week (CRSW). A Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored initiative, CRSW communicates the simple steps everyone can take in keeping our roadway responders and the public safe around traffic incidents.
SPC has developed a series of animated PSAs to raise awareness and keep our emergency responders safe on the job.
A new PSA will be released every day of Crash Responder Safety Week. Be “In the know, on the go” by clicking below:
CRSW PSA Playlist
Watch a new PSA every day of CRSW!
(via https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov)
Every minute of every day, law enforcement, fire and rescue, emergency medical services, public works, transportation, towing, and other responders work roadside to make roadways safe for all road users. Unfortunately, these traffic incident responders put their lives at risk when clearing each of the nearly 7-million annual motor vehicle crashes or the broader range of incidents such as stalled vehicles or roadway debris. CRSW is an opportunity to promote road user awareness and adherence to Move Over laws and Traffic Incident Management (TIM) training for all traffic incident responders.
Visit our Operations and Safety page to learn more!
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), in partnership with DQE Communications, is applying to the Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program (MMGP) to establish and enhance fiber-based infrastructure across the 10-county southwestern Pennsylvania region. SPC is the federally-designated metropolitan planning organization (MPO) responsible for the region’s transportation planning process, as well as the Local Development District and Economic Development District, that establishes regional economic development priorities and provides a wide range of technical services to the region.
In 2022, SPC developed A Connectivity Roadmap for Southwestern Pennsylvania, a strategic regional plan to identify and guide the deployment of high-speed connectivity programs and projects throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. The Connectivity Roadmap provides a guide to building a more comprehensive and equitable broadband network that will help connect people to opportunities, jobs, and education; attract new and retain current businesses; and ultimately enable southwestern Pennsylvania to be better- positioned in securing future connectivity funding for potential projects and programs.
The regional cooperation required to develop the Connectivity Roadmap has provided SPC with the tools and information needed to apply to the highly-competitive MMGP, administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Internet fiber-optic networks, also called “middle-mile” networks, act as a superhighway that allows internet traffic to quickly travel across far distances. The exits on the highway are local networks that consumers interact with, like home WiFi or business Internet—these are what we call “last-mile” services and are often offered by other Internet Service Providers (ISP’s). The MMGP focuses on the highway, not the driveway!
Historically, middle mile fiber networks are built, owned, and operated by ISP’s, telecom companies, and electric utility entities who then lease fiber to last-mile providers/ISPs. Therefore, while middle-mile construction does not immediately impact consumer concerns associated with last-mile services, such as plan pricing, speeds, or a pesky router, without extensive middle-mile network enhancements, it becomes difficult and costly to improve current network capacity or to establish reliable networks in underserved and unserved communities. That’s why SPC saw the Middle Mile Grant Program (MMGP) as the natural next step for improving high-speed broadband in Southwest PA.
Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program
Click to learn about the next steps in getting Southwestern Pennsylvania Connected!
SWPA Connected
Learn about the SWPA Connected Program and download the Connectivity Roadmap!
It was another sad day in Southwestern Pennsylvania with the passing of Cranberry Supervisor and SPC Commissioner Richard Hadley,” said Vincent Valdes, SPC Executive Director. Commissioner Hadley represented Butler County on the Commission since 2015. He was dedicated to real-world planning and championed mixed use and complete streets policies for Cranberry Township as a long-time township supervisor. He brought his passion for planning to SPC’s regional forum and we will miss his expertise on how to plan for growing communities. Every day, the residents of Cranberry Township are witness to and of his life-long, dedicated public service.
Vincent Valdes
https://www.butlereagle.com/20220825/longtime-cranberry-supervisor-chairman-dies-2/
The State Senate Transportation Committee met with PennDOT officials Wednesday in Pittsburgh to discuss different ideas to fix bridges across Pennsylvania, now that tolling is off the table.
PennDOT planned to implement tolling on at least nine major bridges across the state, including the I-79 bridge in Bridgeville, in order to pay for their repair or replacement, but lawsuits stopped that from happening.
Now, alternative ideas are being considered.
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A big part of having a job is getting to the job.
And that was a big part of the hiring fair that Amazon held at Steel Valley Transit in Steubenville on Tuesday.
More than two-dozen job seekers filed through the Robert J. Cutri Multi-Modal Center downtown, hoping to hear back on a job offer from the Imperial, Pa. Amazon Warehouse.
The job fair is the brainchild of Amy Kirlangitis, a Weirton woman who took a positive approach to being unemployed during the pandemic.
She found bringing a large Pittsburgh-area employer in drew job seekers. She went to work in the Amazon Warehouse.
“The recruiting office hired me, and I work there full-time ,and they said you can feed your passion. You can help the Ohio Valley come work for us,” said Kirlangitis, who is now Amazon Pittsburgh’s staffing coordinator.
Kirlangitis said with help from Ronda Craig, public involvement coordinator, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, and Tim Turner of SVRTA, the issues of transportation were handled.
Read more »Read more »“It is a sad day for Southwestern Pennsylvania with the passing of Joe Grata. Joe was a lifelong public servant and advocate for our region’s transportation system first as a longtime transportation reporter who shared his deep understanding of the planning, engineering and funding of infrastructure with the public. Later, in his retirement, he worked to advance connectivity, safety and regionalism as an SPC Commissioner representing Fayette County. Joe recognized that all transportation is ‘local’ in the minds of our communities and further understood the role of mobility to regional economic vitality and quality of life. The Commissioners and staff of SPC will miss his perspective, intellect, and sense of humor as we continue our work to keep Southwestern Pennsylvania connected and moving forward.”
Vincent Valdes
Southwestern Pennsylvania’s transportation infrastructure is slated to receive a slew of expansions, updates and remodels after officials approved a regional transportation improvement plan at a meeting Monday.
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission approved about $6 billion in funding over a four-year period as part of the 10-county region’s plan to improve its transportation infrastructure, according to a 2023-2026 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) investment summary.
The program’s summary includes $740 million for bridge maintenance, $2.2 billion for roads, $186 million for buses and passenger vehicles and $420 million for operations and safety projects.
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