Riverfront property transfer paves the way for new trail connections in Hazelwood | The Homepage

The agreement with CSX Transportation will create a safe crossing near the Glenwood Bridge and bike/pedestrian access to the Duck Hollow Trail. Image courtesy of Friends of the Riverfront

By Ziggy Edwards and Ray Gerard for Junction Coalition

On Sept. 24, Mayor Corey O’Connor announced an agreement with CSX Transportation. The Florida-based railroad company will transfer sections of CSX property and easements to the City of Pittsburgh. The agreement was facilitated by Friends of the Riverfront, a local nonprofit and steward of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and the Three Rivers Water Trail.

The transfers should help close gaps in the Heritage Trail and improve riverfront access. Planned projects include extending the Heritage Trail into the Strip District, as well as new bridge connections in Duck Hollow and Hazelwood.

A map on Friends of the Riverfront’s website shows the proposed improvements in Hazelwood that will:

• Replace the Melanchton Street Bridge with an accessible bike/pedestrian bridge.

• Near the Glenwood Bridge, add a bike/pedestrian crossing to safely get over the railroad tracks and access the existing Duck Hollow Trail.

• Extend Duck Hollow Trail out toward Carrie Furnace and Braddock.

Friends of the Riverfront’s director of development and communications, Kate Angell, said they had been working on this agreement since 2019.

“When the Hazelwood to Carrie Furnace segment of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail is completed, it’s going to open up a whole new area for recreation and alternative transportation for residents,” Ms. Angell said on Oct. 13. Walkers, rollers and cyclists would have a direct off-road route almost all the way to Braddock.

“And the extension down the Turtle Creek valley to Trafford and the Westmoreland Heritage Trail is next after that,” she added.

Reconnecting families

“I’ve been waiting and hoping for this to happen for a long time,” said Hazelwood resident Tiffany Taulton on Oct. 15.

While Ms. Taulton was working as director of outreach and sustainability for Hazelwood Initiative Inc., she worked with Friends of the Riverfront to plan this project.

“Friends of the Riverfront took the community request seriously from the first moment I spoke to them about it,” she said. “One day I called them, and the next day they were ready to go on a bike ride with me [along the existing trails].”

Restoring the Hazelwood connection to Duck Hollow Trail, she said, will allow residents a safe, off-road way to visit family members in places like Homestead and Swissvale. For example, Ms. Taulton’s brother, nephew and cousins all live in Swissvale. Getting there on trails today requires crossing the Hot Metal Bridge, doubling back toward Homestead, and crossing the river again on the Rankin Bridge. It takes so long that she hasn’t traveled the route in a while.

Easier access to Duck Hollow and Squirrel Hill also means easier access to Frick Park. Plus, there is a lot of tourism potential in connecting the Hazelwood Green site to Carrie Furnace.

Ms. Taulton said she is really excited about what this will mean for Hazelwood and for its economy, noting that the trail expansion fits right in to the “green renovation” of the neighborhood.

“It’s reconnecting families and reconnecting people to their history,” she said.

Ziggy Edwards is a citizen journalist who lives in Four Mile Run and proofreads every issue of The Homepage.

Ray Gerard is a citizen journalist and photographer in Greenfield.

Junction Coalition is a grassroots organization comprising residents of Four Mile Run and surrounding communities.