The Parks Conservancy would like to invite fellow park lovers to a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, October 26 at 9:30am to celebrate the beginning of a comprehensive trail and signage improvement project in the parks. We’ll meet up in the Lower Frick parking lot off Lancaster Avenue in Regent Square and be joined by representatives from the offices of Senators Bob Casey and Arlen Specter and Representative Mike Doyle. Rep. Doyle and Sen. Specter were instrumental in securing the $3.1 million federal grant that has made the project possible.
Trails in lower Frick Park will soon get some TLC.
The support of our donors has also helped move the project forward substantially. In order to release the federal funds, the Parks Conservancy needed to raise a percentage of matching funds from the community. Foundations, individuals, and the corporate community helped us raise over $498,000, releasing nearly $2 million in federal funds!
Construction crews will begin work shortly on trails in lower Frick Park. Other projects will begin along Butler Street on the north end of Highland Park and on the Bob Harvey and Mairdale Trails in Riverview Park. Work on Schenley Park, including the restoration of the Works Progress Administration-era bridges in Panther Hollow, begins next spring.
Schenley Plaza already features signs in the new style.
Shortly after the trail work begins, crews will also begin installing about 100 new signs throughout the four regional parks to improve wayfinding and educate users about the parks. In addition to directional signage, interpretive signs will provide information about park history, wildlife, and restoration projects that have improved the parks.
Once work begins, the trail and signage project should take about 10 months to complete. The Conservancy’s Department of Management and Maintenance and the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Works will pay increased attention to these newly restored landscapes, monitoring them for maintenance issues and assigning Urban EcoStewards to care for them.
We’d love to see you at the groundbreaking on the 26th if you’d like to learn more about this exciting project!
A look at the sign family that will soon appear in the parks.
Congratulations!
I just read the article regarding the new signs for our parks! I am thrilled to read that Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy received Federal and Foundation money to make this project a reality. As a new resident of the City of Pittsburgh, I often wondered why we could have more worthy signage for our Parks and now I hear that we will. Thanks to everyone who worked to make this project a reality. The “sign family” is a handsome design addition to our parks.
Keep up the great work!
Ed Lewis
Kudos on creating a new wayfinding system for our amazing parks. But to be honest these signs are hideous! They look dated, tired and cheap. Could we not create better designs? Was this the very best that could be achieved? Big fail.
We’re sorry to hear that you feel that way! It’s always a challenge to launch something like this, where we are trying to balance the historical integrity of the parks with something that’s useful to people, not too distracting in the context of the landscape, sustainable in harsh weather conditions, and not a huge financial burden. Response to the signs in Schenley Plaza has been positive, so we hope you’ll be more pleased when you’ve seen them in context.
Is the WPA Bridge restoration project the reason why a bunch of PDPW workers were out installing a construction trailer next to Anderson Playground in Schenley Park this morning? None of the crew were able to even hazard a guess what the trailer was for, they were just following orders to park it there. Seems a bit early to be installing there for work that isn’t supposed to begin til Spring…?
Also – why was the WPA Bridge restoration considered of greater urgency than the re-design/dredging/repair of the Panther Hollow Lake (and perhaps also the destroyed boathouse)? The bridges all seem to be among the most solid pieces of construction that the parks have to offer. Whereas, of course, runoff from the Golf Course still makes huge algae blooms in the pond after every heavy rain, etc. I had also heard somewhere that the Parks Conservancy had an interest in restoring the Panther Hollow Boathouse as part of a larger effort to create another “entrance” and attraction on the south end of Schenley Park – ?
These are really good questions–we decided to address them at length here: http://wp.me/paf8i-8g