Harrison shared-use path on Springhill Road in jeopardy if township rejects maintenance pact, county says

A $1.3 million pedestrian and bicycle path on Springhill Road in Harrison may not be built if township officials don’t make good on a three-year-old commitment to maintain it by Thursday.

Harrison Commissioners have scheduled a special meeting for 3 p.m. Wednesday to consider the maintenance agreement with Allegheny County.

County representatives had been expected to attend the commissioners’ last meeting Aug. 24, but they were told not to come because township officials said they wanted their questions about the agreement answered before it went to commissioners for a vote, said Brent Wasko, spokesman for the county’s Department of Public Works.

The proposed agreement requires Harrison to provide inspection and maintenance services to ensure safe and unobstructed use of the path. Township officials have raised concerns about the liabilities they will be assume by signing it.

The agreement was not expected to come back to commissioners for consideration until their next regular meeting in late September.

Wasko said county Public Works set a deadline of Thursday for the township to act.

“That is the date in which Public Works is required to lock in its federal funding for 2021,” he said. “If Harrison Township does not approve our proposed maintenance agreement by that date, there is a possibility the project will not move forward.”

The project involves creating a 10-footwide, shared-use path adjacent to the uphill lane of Springhill Road from North Canal Street to McWilliams Drive.

It is part of a master plan to expand the Three Rivers Heritage Trail system. The path project is partially funded with a $642,000 federal grant; there is no cost to the township.

Wasko said the project started several years ago when the township asked the county to investigate building a shared-use path on or along Springhill Road.

”They cited a need for a safe route for pedestrians and cyclists in Natrona to reach Natrona Heights, where many of Harrison Township’s social and commercial services are located,” he said.

In an August 2017 letter, the township endorsed the county’s application for funding for the path and said it would provide maintenance to assure its year-round safety if the county was successful in getting the money.

The letter was signed by three of the five current commissioners — William Heasley, Charles Dizard and Gary Lilly.

In the letter, the township notes that although Springhill Road has no sidewalks or a path off the road wide enough for pedestrians, bicycles or wheelchairs, people without vehicles use it to get in and out of Natrona because no public transportation is available.

Heavy truck traffic, the speed of traffic and the lack of space for people walking and riding “creates a major public safety hazard,” the township said in its letter.