Public input is being sought on a proposed Turtle Creek Connector Trail, which would link the Westmoreland Heritage Trail to the Great Allegheny Passage.

The connector would create a near 9-mile bike trail linking several of the communities within the Turtle Creek Valley including Rankin, Braddock, North Braddock, East Pittsburgh, Turtle Creek, Wilmerding, Monroeville, Pitcairn and Trafford. It will pass closely to North Versailles, East McKeesport and Wall.

The Great Allegheny Passage is a network of trails stretching 150 miles from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md.

The Westmoreland Heritage Trail is a bicycle and walking trail covering 8.5 miles from Saltsburg to Delmont and 9.3 miles from Export to Trafford.

People can offer suggestions and ask questions at two open-house events as well as submit comments online.

An open house is set for 5 to 7 p.m. July 20 at the Pitcairn Park Building, 549 Broadway Blvd. The second is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 24 at the Braddock Civic Plaza, 451 Braddock Ave.

Allegheny County public works officials hosted a Microsoft Teams meeting June 23 to discuss the connector’s feasibility study and present some of the proposed route options.

“The project needs that we identified include the lack of multimodal connectivity throughout the corridor as well as the lack of a connection between the two trail systems,” said Ann Ogoreuc, assistant director of mobility and transportation initiatives at Allegheny County Economic Development. “The study corridor has deteriorated and fragmented pedestrian and bicycle facilities with minimal connectivity to transit and roadway facilities.

“Decades ago, before widespread automobile travel, people in these communities relied mainly on trolley rail service or walking for transportation in and (around) the industry-centered towns of the (Monongahela) River Valley and Turtle Creek Valley. Construction of the Tri-Boro Expressway and other urban renewal projects allowed for reduced vehicle delays but ultimately resulted in fragmented pedestrian facilities.”

The study corridor begins on the Carrie Furnace redevelopment site in Rankin/Swissvale and ends along a Norfolk Southern Railway at the Westmoreland Heritage Trail in Trafford.

Some of the streets to be used along the connector include Braddock Avenue, Fleet Street and Talbot Avenue in the Braddock area.

The East Pittsburgh section would begin around the US Steel Edgar Thomson Works and could utilize Braddock Avenue and pass through a railroad underpass to help avoid using the Tri-Boro Expressway. An alternate route uses Linden Avenue near Turtle Creek as well as the Westinghouse Interworks Railway into North Versailles.

The proposed trail would also go onto Airbrake Avenue and/or Middle Avenue in Wilmerding.

Coordination with Norfolk Southern would be needed to access a corridor. The Pitcairn/Monroeville section would use Broadway Boulevard.

There were concerns about traffic at the intersection of Mosside and Broadway boulevards. Broadway Boulevard could be used as a way into Trafford.

Virgin Alley in the Wilmerding/North Versailles area could be part of the connector in order to avoid heavy vehicle traffic.

Officials also noted the use of Union Railroad Co. property and possibly Electric Avenue.

Courtney Vita, director of trail development with Friends of the Riverfront, talked about the economic impact trails can have.

She said the Greater Allegheny Passage has about 1.4 million annual visits with the average user spending $18 per day causing an estimated overall direct impact of $50 million.

“This roughly 9-mile segment that we’re discussing here today would really open up a lot of possibilities for folks to travel into Westmoreland County and from Westmoreland County all the way to Erie and eventually down to D.C.,” Vita said.

The project received a grant from the federally funded Livability through Smart Transportation program managed by Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

Officials talked about creating shared-use lanes to accommodate bicyclist and motorists in the same traffic lane. Other potential improvements include a mix of on-road and off-road connections, and new or improved pedestrian and/or bicycle infrastructure including both shared and dedicated facilities.

Organizers stressed that no decisions have been made, and a formal report is expected to come out some time in the fall.

Many of the people on the Teams call praised the project and its presenters.

“Excellent explanations on strategy and purpose, and I look forward to bigger and better things during further design refinements,” wrote Jason McCabe.

Steve Johnstonbaugh said his father worked for Westinghouse Electric, and they knew the area when it was a “highly functioning string of communities.”

“Overall, this is a very exciting project that has great economic potential for a portion of (Allegheny County) that has taken an especially hard hit in our shift to a post industrial economy,” he said “(It) opens up economical housing and injects some vitality into this underserved area.”

Project sponsors include the county public works department, Allegheny County Economic Development and the Office of the County Executive.

Project partners include PennDOT, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Federal Highway Administration and Friends of the Riverfront.

Officials said the study would also be used as supporting documentation for agencies applying for grant funding to design and/or construct trail segments.

The Teams presentation and discussion was expected to be uploaded to the county’s website Thursday.

More information about the trail connector project is available at alleghenycounty.us/trailstudy.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)