Biking: Commuters will love Steel Valley Trail

By Larry Walsh, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Jack Paulik is looking forward to the day when Mon Valley residents can commute by bicycle from McKeesport to Pittsburgh along the Steel Valley Trail segment of the Great Allegheny Passage.

"They'll get to town faster during rush hour than motorists tied up in traffic," predicted Paulik, project manager for the Regional Trail Corporation. "They'll get home faster, too."

He estimates it will not take cyclists much more than an hour to cover the 16-mile distance, especially since the trail will be paved.

"Most bicyclists can travel 12 to 15 miles an hour on a paved trail without really pushing it," he said. "We envision this section of the trail as a commuter route, and it should be usable most of the year."

So, when will the final four miles of the Steel Valley Trail be completed, including the almost half-mile segment that will go through the Sandcastle Waterpark in West Homestead?

"Eleven, 11, 11," Paulik said, referring to Nov. 11, 2011. "It has a good jingle to it."

Agreements have been reached with 27 of the 28 property owners for the access needed to complete the trail through brownfields and industrial sites. The last one, an agreement with Sandcastle, remains a work-in-progress. County officials are handling the negotiations.

Hannah Hardy, vice president of the trail council, said a portion of Sandcastle's private road, which the council hopes trail-users will be able to share, is owned by CSX. That brought another major player to the negotiating table.

Meanwhile, there's a lot to be done in the intervening 19 months, including the construction and placement of two bridges over active Norfolk Southern railroad tracks. Plans call for the bridges, which are being fabricated in Minnesota, to be trucked to their respective sites in early July.

The railroad has agreed to halt train traffic through that busy corridor for up to four hours on two separate dates so a 500-ton crane can hoist the bridges into position. The bridges are two miles apart.

The 170-foot bridge near Whitaker, which will have a 350-foot access ramp, will cross the tracks between Kennywood Park and the Rankin Bridge. The 137-foot bridge near Duquesne will have two 350-foot access ramps. The total cost of the bridge project is $3.5 million.

"I think this will be the biggest construction year we've ever had," said Paulik, who emphasized that trail projects are off limits to the public until all the work is completed.

Paulik, Hardy and Steel Valley Trail president Andy Munster gave trail council members a State of the Trail presentation at an open house earlier this month at the Pump House in Munhall.

They also invited them -- and the public -- to join them at 10 a.m. today for a 3-mile guided biking/walking tour of the trail between Duquesne and McKeesport. It will start at the Duquesne trailhead by the Port Authority's park-and-ride lot along Grant Avenue.

Among other things, first-time visitors might see some of the wildlife, including deer, fox and turkeys, that inhabit a two-acre wooded site between the trail and the Monongahela River.

They also will cross the impressive Riverton Bridge and its upstream and downstream views of river traffic. U.S. Steel's Union Railroad Company sold the bridge to the county for $1 and the county, much to the delight of the trail council, has agreed to maintain it for trail-users.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at noon Friday near the intersection of Ninth and Water streets in McKeesport for the opening of a portion of the trail between Ninth and 15th streets.

For more information, go to wwww.steelvalleytrail.org or e-mail info@steelvalley.org.

Larry Walsh writes about recreational bicycling for the Post-Gazette.

Article courtesy Pittsburgh Post-Gazette