Heritage Trail Section Closed

A one-and-a-half-mile section of riverfront trail is closed this morning as crews do work on replacing a water pumping station on Becks Run Road. The Three Rivers Heritage Trail will remain closed from just up river from the Steelers’ practice facility to the dead end near the Glenwood Bridge until Friday at 4:30 when it will reopen for the weekend. It will then close again Monday morning. Friends of the Riverfront Executive Director Thomas Baxter says the work will continue with that schedule for several months. The work is being done by Pennsylvania American Water Company. About 150 people use the section of trail every day and Baxter says it spikes on the weekends. “This section of trail currently is a dead end trail so we hope the inconvenience will not be too bad for trial users,” says Baxter, “We worked really hard with PA American Water to ensure they did the project now, before the completion of the Great Allegheny Passage. The amount of traffic on that trail segment will be significantly lower now than it will be in a few years.” As part of the agreement with Friends of the Riverfront, Pennsylvania American Water must repair any damage done to the section of trail. “We worked on a license and maintenance agreement along with the access agreement to make sure that they understood all the native plantings that are there, the trail surface, what people expect and how to put it back just as it was if not better,” says Baxter. Baxter says trail users can get the latest information one the Friends of the Riverfront webpage under the trail status link.