Bike trail to DC getting down to one gap at Sandcastle (Pittsburgh: closing, club)

[grimacista]

Build an elevated roadway. Carries bike trail through. Separates cyclists from patrons. Preserves access to real river.

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by grimacista

Build an elevated roadway. Carries bike trail through. Separates cyclists from patrons. Preserves access to real river.

I like this idea. I wonder how expensive it would be though? Hopefully private donations would cover it.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by caroline2

It hardly unseemly to want to get paid for the use of one's waterfront property.

That somewhat depends on the circumstances and exactly what they are asking for. In any case like this there is a potential holdout problem, which is part of why the power of eminent domain exists. And the fact is that serving Sandcastle with the Great Allegheny Passage would likely be good for their business (it is already benefiting businesses along existing portions of the trail, and bikers/hikers plus waterparks strike me as a natural fit), and would impose little or any burden on their use of their property.

Of course I am really just speculating. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if this was a holdout case, meaning they were making unreasonable demands for compensation in light of the actual burden imposed on their use of their land and the actual benefit they would receive from completion of the trail, all because they are able to block completion by holding out.

[BrianTH]

A half-mile elevated roadway would likely be quite expensive. And I really don't see the point--biking/hiking trails are not death zones for people crossing them.

[AaronPGH]

Sandcastle only stands to benefit by connecting to the bike trails in some way. Imagine if they had a bike station set up with secure bike parking outside their park, right off the trail? They would have a direct link to the universities and student heavy neighborhoods via bike trail. I know my sister and her boyfriend at the time used to buy season passes and ride down the south side trail until it ran out. Then, they would switch to riding (dangerously) along the train tracks until they got to sandcastle.

It would make sense for the park to connect to this and use it to their advantage!

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by AaronClark

It would make sense for the park to connect to this and use it to their advantage!

Indeed. Generally, at some point we got into this strange mode where we had to pay landowners to provide valuable transportation links to their property, as opposed to the other way around.

[grimacista]

It is inconvenient that Sandcastle is not playing ball with whatever the trail admins want but at the same time, it is their property and I don't know how well eminent domain would go over for a bike trail.

What is Sandcastle's use of the portion by the actual river? If I recall they have a few tables there but not much more. Do they have plans to build a marina etc that would be compromised by losing access? I know that bike trails aren't death traps but guests and cyclists need to be segregated because I doubt Sandcastle would want an area where people can access their park without paying or to pay a guy to stand there just to make sure people don't enter the park back there from a surface trail.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by grimacista

It is inconvenient that Sandcastle is not playing ball with whatever the trail admins want but at the same time, it is their property and I don't know how well eminent domain would go over for a bike trail.

Yeah, I wasn't suggesting the relevant authorities actually use that power, just pointing out that it exists in part because there is a specific sort of market failure that can happen in precisely this sort of situation.

Do they have plans to build a marina etc that would be compromised by losing access? I know that bike trails aren't death traps but guests and cyclists need to be segregated because I doubt Sandcastle would want an area where people can access their park without paying or to pay a guy to stand there just to make sure people don't enter the park back there from a surface trail.

I don't recall Sandcastle ever claiming that they had other plans for whatever land would be used, or suggesting a concern with people sneaking into the park (edit: I'm not sure how these issues were addressed, just that they weren't saying they were an ongoing concern). Rather, their nominal argument was about safety and liability.

[Impala26]

It was my understanding that the "trail" through Sandcastle would simply be making their private access road a shared road, perhaps with better markings/signage and connectors to the Waterfront and South Side trails. To me, this seems like a low-impact deal to Sandcastle by not allowing bikes to pass through the park proper, but could still encourage customers arriving via bicycle. If this truly is the plan the only reason I can see for them to stall is purely on a liability side.

[mjost7]

I just noticed this new bridge spanning Nine Mile Run near Frick Park. This allows for an easy bike ride from Commercial Avenue, near the Irish Center, to that Duck Hollow Trail.

This is across the Monongahela River from Sand Castle.