Pittsburgh To Host Rail-Volution 2018 Transportation Conference

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A major conference is coming to Pittsburgh next year.

Rail-Volution 2018 will once again put our city in the national spotlight.

It's one of the leading transportation conferences in the country and is set to take place Downtown in October 2018.

"Bringing this conference, I think, really brings a national attention to what Pittsburgh has and what Pittsburgh can be using transit as the anchor," Chris Sandvig, of the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, said.

Local leaders made the announcement this morning at the Port Authority's Steel Plaza Station.

Many say the event is a big opportunity to move Pittsburgh forward in terms of transportation in the form of buses, bicycles, pedestrians and more.

"I would like to see more intentional development around our light rail busway systems, our frequent transit lines. We have the opportunity to come up with a real vision about where the system should go next and tie that to community objectives, not just a line that goes from point A to point B," Sandvig said.

This is the first time the Rail-Volution conference will be held in Pittsburgh. The city was selected because of its great transit system.

"They built a system in the 70s when other people, other regions weren't necessarily investing in it. I think what's unique about Pittsburgh is that they invested early, but they haven't necessarily taken advantage of the system they have to the extent that they could," Rail-Volution's Dan Bartholomay said.

The 24th annual conference is expected to attract roughly 1,500 people.

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