Avid cyclist Bob Cropp enjoys blazing a trail.

And with the addition of 10 miles to Armstrong Trails in Armstrong County, Cropp of Grove City arrived on his bike Monday morning to learn more about the ongoing efforts to expand the trail in the Kiski Junction corridor through Gilpin.

The Port of Baltimore, which has been closed since a barge collided with and brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River, gets billions of tons and millions of dollars’ worth of goods shipped its way from the Pittsburgh region — including Armstrong, Indiana and Westmoreland counties — according to information provided over the weekend by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

If you feel like you’re noticing more bikes on the roads, you’re probably right: POGOH bikeshare hit record-breaking ridership last year and has reached 1 million rides total since launching in 2015.

“Students, residents and visitors embraced POGOH last year — it’s clear that when we expand the station network, our ridership grows significantly,” said David White, executive director of Bike Share Pittsburgh, the nonprofit that operates POGOH bikeshare, in a press release.

The Point Marion section of the Sheepskin Trail stretches 1.4 miles and connects to Springhill Township’s Nilan community to make up the southern extension of the trail. The Fayette County commissioners are requesting $1.25 million in funding to complete that portion of the trail.

The apparent low bid to rehabilitate Pittsburgh’s closed Charles Anderson Bridge is slightly lower than city officials had projected.

Last month, city engineer Eric Setzler had estimated upgrading the span that carries the Boulevard of the Allies in Oakland into Schenley Park would cost about $50 million. Mosites Construction Co.’s bid of $48.5 million was the lowest of four received, the city reported Monday.

County Executive Sara Innamorato announced 10 appointees to five local boards Friday in what will be her biggest move to staff her new administration since she assumed office in January.

The individuals, if approved by a county council vote, will serve on the boards of the Allegheny Regional Asset District, the county Airport Authority, the county Redevelopment Authority, the county Sanitary Authority and the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission.

Armstrong County officials were optimistic last week that having one of their own as the chairman for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission can only be a good thing for the county over the next two years.

During their meeting on March 7, Armstrong County Commissioners John Strate, Anthony Shea and Pat Fabian announced that Fabian was recently elected as chairman of the regional planning organization.

Since our 2014 Member’s Meeting, Bike Pittsburgh has been pushing Pittsburgh’s mayors to adopt a policy toward zero traffic deaths. While other policy goals of ours such as a Complete Streets policy and a new bike plan were achieved in 2017 and 2020 respectively, we still lacked the bold policy goal of zero traffic fatalities until this week.

Butler County Commissioners hosted the yearly State of The County event at the Atrium yesterday and they say the county in strong condition.

They cite business development, which includes anticipated new manufacturing jobs and plans to expand broadband access across the county.

As the executive director of the Wilkinsburg Community Development Corp., Tracey Evans has cultivated a keen eye for deferred maintenance.

In her long-distressed community, Evans notes concrete falling off a railroad trestle that was originally built in 1916 as just one example of infrastructure long in need of an upgrade.