Grant approved to connect Point State Park to the Great Allegheny Passage (Pittsburgh: 2015, construction)

[gg]

This will be pretty sweet for those that want to ride a bike without dealing with cars downtown. Can't wait!

PAHouse News Page

[airwave09]

Fantastic news! This is the last major connection in the trail system to DC.

[CaptainPittsburgh]

Sick. I bike through there all the time. That switchback will be fantastic.

[pwiegman]

This switchback ramp is in combination with an extension of the walkway from the Mon Wharf to Point St. Park. The area under the Fort Pitt Bridge is narrow and difficult for bikes with trailers and trikes. Here's more from Riverlife.

Blog

This is the proposed ramp

Mon Wharf Switchback

The connector

Point State Park Connector

The connector project is hard to see in the graphic on that page. You need to have been there to have a full appreciation.

This whole project will be a welcome addition to the Great Allegheny Passage and will add additional traffic-free miles, well a portion of a mile, to the trail.

There's also a planned change in the trail at the eastern end just outside of Cumberland, MD which will reroute the trail around a heavy use road crossing at Valley Street. The new route will go under the Valley St. bridge rather than crossing the road. That new route is the former route of the WMdRwy and will shorten the trail by a 100 feet or so. If you ride the GAP outside of Pittsburgh you'll notice survey markers with miles. These are the new, and permanent, mile markers.

Finally, there are plans for refurbishing the Pinketon Tunnel in Somerset County between Rockwood and Confluence. It's an 800'+ tunnel which was used by the WMdRwy. Abandoned in 1975, work began on rehab in 1990's but was halted because of a rock fall. A 1.5 mile by-pass was established around the tunnel and that is still in use now. Both the tunnel route and the by-pass will be part of the trail system.

Great Allegheny Passage - www.gaptrail.org

pgw

[gg]

Originally Posted by pwiegman

This switchback ramp is in combination with an extension of the walkway from the Mon Wharf to Point St. Park. The area under the Fort Pitt Bridge is narrow and difficult for bikes with trailers and trikes. Here's more from Riverlife.

pgw

Thanks for all this information. I can't wait for that switchback, which I would use often. I ride down there through that parking lot and up the ramp all the time. Then go across the road, on the sidewalk across a couple more busy roads and finally back on the Jail Trail or across the Smithfield St. Bridge. I can't believe at some point you will be able to avoid all the traffic encounters. What an amazing project/improvement. Thank you for all you are doing!

[phatty5011]

When will this be done?

[pwiegman]

Originally Posted by phatty5011

When will this be done?

The ramp is projected to be out for bid in early 2015. Beyond that no construction or completion date has been suggested.

These things take lots of time raising all the $ and getting through all the permits and approvals. When State and Federal money is involved the number of approvals increases.

I haven't checked on the expansion of the ramp under the Fort Pitt Bridge, but that is going to be built by the State via Point St. Park. Apparently the $ was in the budget but that doesn't mean it will be available and the project can go ahead.

As for the Pinkerton Tunnel mentioned in my post. The money is still be raised. The intent is for construction in 2015. Same for the Valley Road by-pass in Cumberland.

pgw

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by gg

Thanks for all this information. I can't wait for that switchback, which I would use often. I ride down there through that parking lot and up the ramp all the time. Then go across the road, on the sidewalk across a couple more busy roads and finally back on the Jail Trail or across the Smithfield St. Bridge. I can't believe at some point you will be able to avoid all the traffic encounters. What an amazing project/improvement. Thank you for all you are doing!

This is the same route I take, and it is such a pain. Can't wait for the new ramp!

[gg]

Construction to begin this spring on bike, pedestrian ramp to Mon Wharf | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[Forging Steel]

Originally Posted by gg

Construction to begin this spring on bike, pedestrian ramp to Mon Wharf | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Wow!!

This deserves its own thread, if in fact it's true. This project seems to be one of those that keeps teasing us, this must be the third time we have read something like this only for some unforeseen cost or design challenge to present itself later. But this surely sounds promising.

To me, as a cyclist and proponent of more cycling infrastructure, I would even go as far as to say that the implementation of this project should eliminate the need for the on-street lanes recently announced for Ft Pitt Blvd and Stanwix. In another thread a poster suggested to me that these lanes are necessary to pull people into the CBD, but seriously, if people ride that trail to Pittsburgh from DC or Cumberland or Confluence or even McKeesport; they aren't gonna take a picture of the fountain and go home. Of course they will visit our business district via Point State Park or the Allegheny River Trail.

The on-street bike lanes recently announced are immediately superfluous if this switchback is built, and I would advocate for using that money elsewhere. I love all bike infrastructure, but considering we are still in the infancy of creating this network, surely another area of the city could benefit rather than introducing such a redundancy here. The switchback plan is so eloquent and simple, the alternative requires so many potential conflicts with vehicles it makes my head spin just thinking about it.

Just my 2 cents