Penn Hills will receive $2.5 million for transportation-related projects in the state’s latest round of Multimodal Transportation Fund money.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced in a news release on July 16 that Allegheny County will receive $5.5 million for transportation and other infrastructure projects in Penn Hills Municipality and Harrison Township. There are 27 projects across communities in 23 counties that will receive a total of $30.2 million through the fund.

In Penn Hills, the money will be used to repair segments of 31 streets, along with repaving, making streets ADA compliant, the addition of sidewalks and making streets more accessible to pedestrians, bicyclists and public transportation vehicles.

The other $3 million will go to Harrison Township for road improvements there.

Penn Hills Mayor Pauline Calabrese said receiving the grant money is wonderful news.

“I’m proud of this — it’s a reflection of our municipality. Clearly the state has confidence that we can do this,” she said, thanking Sen. Jay Costa and state Rep. Anthony DeLuca for “going to bat” for Penn Hills in Harrisburg.

“This really raises the value of Penn Hills. Future residents and current residents are absolutely going to see new road work over the next several years.”

Manager Scott Andrejchak said road projects in any community are “a big thing.”

“Many others may not have that luxury right now,” he said.

Andrejchak said Penn Hills will match the $2.5 million grant with 30% of its own local funds. He said that local money will likely be spread out over two or three years, however.

The latest round of funding granted to Penn Hills adds to a $3 million multimodal grant the municipality received in February 2019. That money is being spent on similar road projects throughout the municipality this year through 2021, Andrejchak said.

Before receiving the grants, Penn Hills had been budgeting $300,000 for road paving projects. Council allocated $375,000 this year.

Andrejchak said council and municipal staff will work collaboratively in the coming months to solidify which streets will receive improvements with the $2.5 million.

The manager said he was somewhat surprised to receive another large grant for road improvements. He credited Costa and DeLuca, but also complimented Penn Hills’ staff.

“Our planning department and staff here, we have the capacity to manage bigger grant projects,” Andrejchak said.

Costa and DeLuca took credit for the grant approval in a joint news release Thursday.

“I was happy to be able to help bring this state money home to Penn Hills, which will allow the municipality to provide badly needed street repairs for motorists while relieving some of the burden on their already tight Public Works budget due to the pandemic,” DeLuca said.

Costa said the grant money is significant in allowing the municipality to make its streets accessible to all sorts of transportation modes.

“I’m looking forward to watching Penn Hills complete these projects and improve its sidewalks, streets and cut-outs,” he said.

Andrejchak said the majority of projects will include repaving, based on recommendations from the municipality’s department of public works. Those recommendations will be made available to council and the public in a few months to discuss.

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