PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers will take legal action if city officials do not conduct a thorough study on how a planned casino will impact game-day traffic, team President Art Rooney II said.

The Steelers have long demanded a traffic study, but Rooney is becoming increasingly edgy about the issue as city planners move to give the casino's master plan final approval without studying the impact the new facility will have on game days.

In a statement, Rooney said, "Placing a casino in a unique location like the North Shore without studying event-day traffic before it is built is a totally illogical approach to an important planning process, which will impact how people access the North Shore for years to come."

Majestic Star Casino, to be built and run by PITG Gaming, is to be Pittsburgh's first slot-machine facility.

City planners, who were supposed to consider the master plan at a meeting on Tuesday, delayed the vote for a second time. Waiting for the results of an expanded traffic study, the commission members plan to discuss the casino at their meeting on May 29.

City transportation planner Sidney Kaikai said there is not enough time to conduct a comprehensive study of game-day traffic if the casino is to open as scheduled in the summer of 2008.

The city is planning to separate casino and football traffic on game days and better accommodate pedestrians. Along the way, it will be possible to make more changes and improvements to the plans, Kaikai said.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has yet to formally issue the casino license, because two losing bidders have appealed the board's decision in December to award it to PITG Gaming. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on those appeals May 15.

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