New section of trail connects Strip District with Point State Park
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Bob Breen, 57, of Ohio Township rides his bike Thursday through the trail outside the new Convention Center Riverfront Plaza. The completion of the plaza connects the trail from Point State Park to the Strip District. Mr. Breen, who works Downtown, bikes 8 miles every day.
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A 1,300-foot piece of trail and a 3,000 square-foot plaza on the river side of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center opened Thursday with the blaring of rivercraft horns and blank musket fire by two men in Revolutionary War garb.
The trail increment connects Point State Park on the Allegheny River side to the Armstrong Cork Factory in the Strip.
Previously an unreachable riverbank with concrete rubble, the plaza and its trail portion were "a key missing piece" in the amenities of the convention center, said Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, who leaves office at the end of the year. "This shows we can still do good public works projects. I wanted this to happen on my watch."
The project took a little more than a year from the start of construction, but it was first proposed a decade ago, said Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
Yarone Zober, the mayor's chief of staff, said the $9.5 million project, which also was funded by the state and foundations, would not have happened without transportation stimulus money. Being non-traditional, some questioned its relevance to transportation.
Opening his arms toward a couple of bicyclists on the plaza, he said, "Not transportation? Bikes, boats, pedestrians? We were adamant that this would be funded."
"It's important to have a loop of trails around the city," said the mayor, "and we're pretty darned close to it."
The trail around the city's core is interrupted going around the tip of Point State Park toward the Mon Wharf because of restoration work, and the Mon Wharf switchback remains to be done.
The Buncher Co. and the Urban Redevelopment Authority are working on plans to develop the Allegheny riverfront from the Strip to Lawrenceville.
Citing the riverfront master plan, the mayor said continuing trails along 6.5 miles of developable land would spur investment. "Investors want to make sure a quality of life exists."
The plaza includes an elevated walkway with wheelchair ramp; decorative paving that suggests a link between the river and the convention center's "waterwall" walkway; a platform that extends 23 feet out over the river; retaining walls; tie-ups for 10 commercial and 27 recreational boats; and native trees and shrubs that are flood hardy.
"The river used to be our industrial back door, now it's our front door," said Mr. Onorato. He said limited funds made it important "that the city be part of the county request. If we have a vibrant city, we have a vibrant county."
While officials talked of "almost complete" connections, Tom Baxter, executive director of Friends of the Riverfront, a trail advocacy organization, said, "Complete is in the eye of the beholder. We want connections along all the rivers on both sides, and from Pittsburgh to Erie."
First Published May 13, 2011 12:00 am
