By Karamagi Rujumba, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In days gone by, the steel industry dominated the 185 miles of riverfront in Allegheny County. The remnants of that industry, including contaminated brownfields, scrap yards and rail lines, have impeded efforts to reuse land along the Allegheny, Monongahela, Ohio and Youghiogheny.
As part of an effort to promote recreation where mills once roared, Allegheny County and a coalition of municipalities and riverfront development groups have crafted a plan for a 32-mile trail connecting 17 Allegheny River towns from Millvale to Harrison.
The Allegheny Valley Trail is expected to meander through Tarentum, Aspinwall and O'Hara, touching parts of the Rachel Carson trail before connecting with the Pittsburgh-Harrisburg Mainline Canal Greenway, which follows 320 miles along the historic Pennsylvania Mainline Canal.
That proposal is the focus of public meetings this week in Millvale, Tarentum and O'Hara, where the public-private partnership behind the project hopes to get input from the Allegheny Valley communities, said Susan Crookston, board president of the Fox Chapel District Association.
The public meetings will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Millvale Community Center, 416 Lincoln Ave.; 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Alle-Kiski Museum, 224 E. Seventh Ave., Tarentum; and 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Boyd Community Center, 1220 Powers Run Road, O'Hara.
The nonprofit Fox Chapel association, founded in 1928, supports community projects in seven municipalities. It was one of the initial partners in crafting the trail plan, which county and municipal officials and riverfront advocates unveiled in O'Hara in 2008.
Last year, the group of partners, which includes the county, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Allegheny River Towns Enterprise Zone and Friends of the Riverfront, hired the Pittsburgh firm McTish Kunkel & Associates to map the trail.
The firm produced two alignments, a preferred one hugging the riverfront and a more practical one that would meander off the riverfront in places, said Darla Cravotta, special projects coordinator for County Executive Dan Onorato.
"We have done the research and the mapping of how it would work, and now we want to show the plan to the public before we can start work on implementing it," she said. The project, which has raised some $67,000 so far, is wholly funded by public-private partnerships.
In addition to recreation, the proposed trail could spawn significant development benefits for the communities it touches. The hope is to build a trail with economic impact like the Great Allegheny Passage has had in the Mon Valley, county officials said.
"You look at towns like Ohiopyle and Confluence and you see the importance of a trail like this," said county spokesman Kevin Evanto.
Tarentum manager Bill Rossi said the trail could complement Riverview Park, which spreads across some 2,000 feet of the Allegheny riverfront.
"We have a farmer's market, free summer concerts, a great recreation center with a swimming pool and a playground," Mr. Rossi said. A trail connecting to the park could be just what the borough needs to spur traffic on its main street during summer months.
"My first thought when I heard about this trail was 'I want it to come through my town,' " Mr. Rossi said. "The good thing for us is that the borough owns a lot of the riverfront, and that will help us when it comes to building the trail."
Land ownership, along with industrial remnants, treatment plants, railroad tracks and security concerns, could provide challenges to developers of the trail, said Ms. Crookston, who lives in Aspinwall.
"I love canoeing and outdoor activities like trail hikes, and yet I can't even see the water. Between my house and the river is a scrap yard and a water treatment plant, which make it hard for me to get near the Allegheny," she said.
She and Ms. Cravotta agreed that funding, including land acquisition, is an obstacle.
"That's one of the things we want the public to know, that this is going to cost money and we want to hear all ideas," Ms. Cravotta said.
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