Ideas sought for Springdale Township and East Deer river trail

An Oct. 16 meeting has been scheduled for the public to learn more about a proposed trail that would run through Springdale Township and East Deer.

The Friends of the Riverfront will hold the public meeting on the Springdale-East Deer segment of the trail.

The trail portion will begin where Lincoln Avenue and Pittsburgh Street intersect in Springdale, continue along Freeport Road and end at Pittsburgh Brewing Co. in East Deer, said Katie Kovalchik, Friends trail development project manager.

The segment is part of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, which is about 33 miles long and runs mostly along the Allegheny River all the way to Pittsburgh.

“We haven’t really come up with a design yet,” Kovalchik said of the segment. “Our goal is to come up with a few ideas to present to stakeholders.”

The organization and its engineers have been conducting traffic counts at intersections within the corridor and plan to fly a drone over it, Kovalchik said. It also is working with state agencies, including Penn­DOT and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Representatives from Friends were available at the East Deer Summer Celebration in August to discuss the project. Kovalchik said more public input events will be scheduled after the mid-October meeting.

“This is the first of multiple opportunities to weigh in on the project,” Kovalchik said. “We hope to introduce it on the 16th and keep everyone involved as the project evolves.”

At the Oct. 16 meeting, Friends will display maps of general alignment and lines of potential options to run the trail, Kovalchik said. They plan to discuss the health, recreational, transportation and economic benefits of a trail and hear attendees’ thoughts on the project.

Following the meeting, Friends will complete a traffic study and safety evaluation of the corridor.

“We hope to take the feedback from the Oct. 16 meeting as we start to get into more detail,” she said.

East Deer Commissioner Tony Taliani said the township is supportive of the trail and wants to see it happen.

However, there are logistics that need to be worked out, especially in the southern portion of the proposed path, he said.

“Down near the bridge, there’s nowhere for it to go except Old 28, and that causes a lot of problems with safety and parking,” he said. “We cannot afford to lose any parking.”

Once a detailed plan is presented, Taliani said, the board can consider its options.

“We need to know what their plan is going to be,” he said.

“Once they get to our recreation area and the brewery and the park, it’s not a problem. It’s the lower part that we have to consider.”

Springdale Township Manager Bill McElligot said he plans to attend the Oct. 16 meeting and report the information to the township’s board of commissioners.

Similar work is in the very early stages in Harmar and O’Hara; meetings on that project will be scheduled in the future, Kovalchik said.