A project to realign Brilliant Avenue in Aspinwall with the entrance to Allegheny RiverTrail Park is expected to improve safety and ease navigation along one of the borough’s busiest and most challenging corridors, authorities said.
Mayor Scott Zimmermann said the $3.9 million construction will fix a long-standing “wonky” entrance to the park, a 16-acre site that abuts the Allegheny River and draws thousands of visitors a year.
“It’s a strange approach to the entrance that doesn’t really work very well,” Zimmermann said. “It clogs up traffic.”
The entrance to the park currently is accessed under a railroad trestle — essentially in the middle of a block — between Brilliant and Eastern avenues along Freeport Road.
An innovative project will reconfigure the park entrance as an extension of Brilliant Avenue.
“The intersection realignment is necessary because the current layout is confusing and harder to see for both drivers and people walking, especially around the entrance area serving the riverfront park, merchant lot and the public works complex,” borough Manager Melissa O’Malley said.
“That awkward/not clearly visible access is exactly what the project is meant to fix.”
The idea is not new.
Council has been working on the project since 2014. It previously received about $921,000 from PennDOT’s Multimodal Transportation Fund and $500,000 from the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority’s Gaming Economic Development Fund for engineering/design and other preconstruction costs.
The project was paused in 2019 after coordination with the Allegheny Valley Railroad, which required additional railroad-related infrastructure and protections that were outside the original project scope.
The extra requirements increased costs and complexity, O’Malley said, and made it challenging to move forward.
The project was green-lighted again, however, when the borough was awarded $2 million through the federal Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bill, with help from U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel.
Councilman Heth Turnquist helped with the grant application. He said there is a pressing need to boost safety near the park entrance/intersection.
“This access serves a wide range and large volume of users, which include residents, workers, visitors to our business district, cyclists and pedestrians accessing the Allegheny River Trail Park, as well as Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority and Aspinwall public works vehicles,” Turnquist said.
“Despite that heavy and varied use, the current configuration has obvious shortcomings.”
The existing entrance is tucked between pillars with limited visibility, and there is no designated pedestrian path into the park.
“Most critically, all traffic entering the park must cross an active rail line where numerous trains pass per day at no set schedule,” Turnquist said.
The redesign addresses visibility challenges and uncontrolled rail crossings by creating a proper four-way intersection. As proposed, work includes a new traffic signal with railroad preemption capability, a crossing arm at the rail line and a dedicated pedestrian walkway.
Turnquist said council is hopeful the project can incorporate beautification and traffic calming measures that strengthen the connection between Aspinwall and the park.
Mark Chimel, chair of the borough planning and zoning committee, said the federal grant was awarded at the right time, as it will coincide with Allegheny County starting to plan a new Brilliant Branch trail and connector at the park.
“The realigned and safer entrance will help our town and the park feel truly connected — and ultimately connected with the new trail as well,” Chimel said.
Zimmermann said the borough has outgrown the existing entrance, previously used only by people to access the former Aspinwall Marina.
“Other than the borough having its maintenance down there, it was a single-point business,” he said. “There’s now a lot of public traffic that it didn’t have previously.
“Cars have to stop in the middle of the road to make a turn. It’s not great.”
Like Chimel, Zimmermann believes the work comes at the perfect time. When the trail is complete, a few years down the line, traffic will multiply, he said.
“There will be people coming from all over,” he said.
Council will continue to seek grants to include upgrades along the Freeport Road corridor. Additional funding will address lighting, bus shelters and crosswalks, among other work.
“Everything is a bit dated,” Zimmermann said. “While the project wheels are just starting to turn, this will be spectacular.”