It's customary for speakers to overstate things at ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

So it's not unusual that Col. Mike Crall of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the following yesterday morning while standing beside the Mon River:

The new Mon Wharf park, he said, will help "make our waterfront the envy of all the other waterfronts across our nation."

People always say that kind of stuff at ribbon-cuttings. What's unusual this time is that Col. Crall, standing in what six months ago had been just another dismal slice of parking lot, may very well be right.

OK, perhaps he should have said "riverfront" instead of "waterfront." Folks in Malibu and the Hamptons probably aren't spilling any chardonnay from jealousy that Pittsburghers are finally getting to play along miles of water.

But having ridden my bike from the North Side across the Allegheny River into Point State Park, and then into this new linear park on the Monongahela, it was impossible not to be struck by how much our riverfronts have changed in a decade's time.

When I moved to the North Side in 1990, the riverfronts were nearly as dead as the cast of "Wagon Train." But Riverlife -- formerly known as the Riverlife Task Force -- arrived in 1999 and declared Pittsburgh would have 13 miles of parks along its three rivers.

Damned if we aren't about three-quarters of the way there.

We've come far enough that the crowds, which came out to the North Shore this month to see the new Fred Rogers statue, or replicas of the Nina and the Pinta, were not particularly unusual. That slice of riverfront stays active throughout summer with joggers and dog walkers and cyclists and even bathers in the Watersteps, the child-friendly fountain that tumbles toward the river on a slope between Heinz Field and PNC Park.

And now Downtown, at long last, has made connection with the Mon. Paul Hennigan, president of Point Park University, gloried yesterday in that notion and in the new look at his school's "front door."

"It changes everything," he said.

Indeed, it was striking how pretty the city seemed, even in mid-November with the trees scaling Mount Washington across the river mostly leafless. This stretch is only about two-fifths of a mile and the parkway traffic makes it anything but quiet, but both Station Square and the Gateway Clipper fleet looked grand from this fresh vista.

About 150 people walked, biked, skated, kayaked or canoed over for a look.

Hannah Grace and Gene Slevinski of Highland Park skated over. They've been gliding Pittsburgh's streets for more than 20 years but they will "skate the trails whenever we run into them," he said.

That's been happening a lot more in recent years.

Judy Melvin biked over from her home in the Mexican War Streets. She grew up in Bethel Park, where her parents had to drive to South Park and then drive back home if they wanted a park experience. These linear parks are like the answer to a childhood dream she hadn't even realized she'd had.

"This is fabulous, fabulous," Ms. Melvin, a board member of Friends of the Riverfront, said of the new tree-lined park. "Unfortunately, it's a little orphaned right now."

Yes, this $3 million stretch is essentially a cul-de-sac for cyclists at the moment. They can bike down to the Mon Wharf from the Wood Street entrance ramp, the same way automobile drivers do, but construction of the links to other trails won't start until next year.

An $8 million landing will extend toward the river and curl around the parkway pillars at this park's western edge, connecting the trail with Point State Park. That is fully funded by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

This trail will also need a switchback ramp up to the Smithfield Bridge so it can connect with the eastbound trail that begins on that historic structure's eastern side. The switchback ramp will cost $4 million, of which PennDOT has committed $1 million. Federal money will have to be sought, but U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle stood before a mike and said, "We need to get this deal done."

The 10 miles of trail that have transformed our relationship with the three rivers came from a relatively small investment. The result of $70 million in public money and $43 million in private money is a true small-d democratic amenity. Nobody needs a ticket to enjoy a walk or a run or a skate or a bike ride along the water in Three Rivers Park.