BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Pretty cool. I like that they are adding a water taxi stop too. I could see people in from out of town for a conference taking one over to station square.

So now when are they finishing the connection between the eliza furnace/ soutside trail to the point?

that's in the works too

http://www.riverlifetaskforce.org/projects/monwharf/

thats nice.. I wonder how they plan to keep it from flooding. Will be secksi when its done.

I think the plan is to let it flood and drain quickly.

The wharf thing sounds awesome, but is it really happening? The site says:

"State and federal agencies and the private sector have committed $2.1 million in funds for design and construction of the Landing. Final design is nearly complete and construction is expected to begin in 2007."

They have closed down the parking lot so it's ready to go. Not sure if construction has actually started or not.

i believe construction has started. part of it will apparently be floating on barges? they are also building it with flooding, and cleaning it up afterwards, in mind

this does look pretty cool

hope they don't close it to bikes on opening day

and another shot

uh oh. there's a picture of someone walking his bike...

i think that dude in the suit has the same bike as obama

That chainlink fence is the stupidest thing in the world. It makes no sense. Very nice to see it go away.

The plans to extend trails further are really interesting. A couple years ago I went exploring to see how far upriver I could ride, as close to the river as I could. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntfrnzn/sets/72157601395390007/ Possible != practical.

Connecting 40th Street up to Highland Park would be very nice, but it's hard to see how it could be done officially.

Awesome! And yes, it would be great to be able to hook into the trail thru Highland Park, but hey....I can wait. Getting Eliza Furnance connected thru will make me feel good for now.

Just Dreaming Department: Having now proven to myself that it is physically possible to ride a bike from Official Eastern Terminus of Eliza Furnace Trail all the way to Braddock, it'd sure be nice to be able to do this officially, too. Basically we're talking about securing right-of-way along/across railroad tracks. In my experience, there's not a snowball's chance in hell of getting a railroad to agree to anything, but I could be wrong.

But just think how cool it'd be to bike all the way from TurlCrik to Dahntahn without climbing a hill. Once accomplished, I'd love to challenge anyone in a car to race from Tri-Boro and Shaw to the Mellon Square Garage at 7:00 a.m. on a weekday, the car having to take I-376.

I wouldnt say its impossible to get currently used railroad right of way, but its sure isnt easy.

I agree with the commute time thing. I can make it from my house in friendship to the door of my building downtown which is 3.99 miles exactly, Even waiting on traffic signals and following standard vehicular style cycling etiquette in <15 minutes. If I were to drive, It takes about 13 or 14, but then I still have to find a place to park.

Back to the rail right of way, thats essentially what rails to trails projects like GAP are, but just unused railways rather than in use railways. I think the biggest hurdle is the assumption of liability. Which is also one of the main reasons the sandcastle cut through is taking so long. This is the US after all, and if someone gets a flat and wrecks on a rail trail, then I feel sure they would sue the landowner for not holding their hand and pointing out the hazards on the trail.

Well, I guess that in lieu of getting CSX to let cyclists jump five sets of live tracks under the Glenwood Bridge, it might be easier to figure out how to attach a switchback structure to the Glenwood Bridge from the downstream end of that Duck Hollow trail, and a usable sidewalk on the side of the bridge to cross the tracks.

The Braddock to Duck Hollow section, by comparison, should be a whole lot simpler, since most of it is what appears to be an abandoned public street, and can use an existing, approved grade crossing. The biggest problem, I think, is NOT building a stupid expressway instead, the MFSOB (Mon-Fayette / SOuthern Beltway).

I think the biggest hurdle is the assumption of liability.

the liability issue isnt really the biggest hurdle. PA has a pretty progressive recreational liability law in which if you let your private land to public recreation, then the state takes on all liability. the problem with sandcastle is much bigger than that and goes to land issues, taxes, private property and other things

speaking of rivertrails i just found a 4-5 block limestone trail from like... 39th or so to 44th in lawrencevile... kind of pointless but what the hell... who keeps that up and why?

haha. it's eventually going to be connected to the strip district trail

The South Side side of the trail would seem to be about as problematic b/c there's that really smelly scrap yard after the trail ends near the Glenwood Bridge, along with the railroad, and I'm not sure how keen they'd be on people running thru there.

As a side note, the mosquitoes on that stretch are voracious little suckers too. No pun intended.

As I recall, the property owners between Sandcastle and the South Side Trail have a provisional agreement for the trail going through IF Sandcastle comes to an agreement. If we can get past Sandcastle, everything else should fall into place.

OK so Sandcastle is the hangup between SS trail and Homestead.

I'm curious as to the trail from Homestead to McKeesport. That would be a great thing even if there was a mile or two missing around Sandcastle. What's happening with that?

Mick

Mick, the section between Sandcastle and McKeesport you were wondering about is the Steel Valley Trail. You can find out about the trail developement and down load a map at - www.steelvalleytrail.org

Thanks, pgrenin.

That at least gives me a place to go to check on progress.

Mick