Calling volunteers for a cleanup of sidewalks & stairs of Glenwood Bridge, Saturday April 13 from 9am to 2pm. Just show up for as much as you can. If you email me at
ph@cs.cmu.edu, I can give you my cell #.
This is to help connections between Pittsburgh and the GAP trail, to open in a few months. See the
back story.
Essential: water & gloves & you. Optional: broom, dustpan & bucket for broken glass, pruners, loppers, flat blade shovel for shoveling dirt off the stairs, garbage bags. Maybe a wheelbarrow (for transporting trash bags) and a saw (for small trees).
To get there, park your car/bike on Baldwin Rd, which is below route 837 in Hays. See map:
http://tinyurl.com/bt4n7b2 . Find the stairs up to 837 and follow blue route to where I’ll be working near the stairs on the far (SW) side. See photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/pheckbert/GlenwoodBridge#
From my 4/4 cleanup:
paulheckbert
2013-04-11 14:12:30
We had a good cleanup Saturday. Thanks to Stephanie and Nancy of Swissvale and David of Point Breeze for turning out! Here are before & after pictures.
We've made big progress, but there's more to do in the future: clean glass from east sidewalk of bridge, clean glass & weeds at north end of bridge, put up signs to help people on bridge find the (future) GAP trail and vice versa and
ask city & county politicians to improve the bike connections across the river. Want to help?
paulheckbert
2013-04-15 12:17:01
Paul, Thanks!
Anything on 04/20/2013?
I have
11:00am
BIKE 101 & 201 @ The Oval
When: Sat, April 20, 11am – 2pm
Where: 1401 Washington Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA (map)
Description: New this year will be a Bike 201 session that will include lots of time on the track perfecting pace line and other group riding skills. As a follow up to this session, we will have the following 3 weekly rides as training rides to further practice the skills learned on the 20th. As in years past, we will also cover basic repairs and street riding skills reinforcement. Please RSVP so we know how many assistants and coaches we will need for the event.
But after 2pm I can be there.
mikhail
2013-04-15 12:35:28
Well done Paul. I have about zero free time to contribute, but if having access to a 4'x8' utility trailer with 3' sides (it's like a big wheelbarrow) would advance the cause, let me know. You would just need a car with a hitch and a wiring harness for the running lights. It would be useful for taking large quantities of debris to the dump. I'm not sure how you are doing that now. In any case, thanks for doing this.
jmccrea
2013-04-15 12:45:25
Jacob: On 4/6 I had 6 bags of trash, and on 4/13 we had 7 bags. So it's not huge amounts. The most precious resource is people time.
If people enjoy landscaping type work (cutting down small trees maybe with chainsaw, about 50' of bench digging) there's an existing bench in the road cut, SW of the bridge, that cyclists could use to bike down to Glass Run Rd from the bridge's sidewalk, as an alternative to the stairs (no bike carrying necessary). See "SW connector" at this map:
http://tinyurl.com/dzuyqa . I wouldn't want to take that on, solo. Anybody up for that?
Mikhail: I haven't scheduled anything for 4/20. You could... :-)
paulheckbert
2013-04-15 12:58:42
I did not make it to the bridge yeterday. Instead I almost cleaned up the chute :), finished at concrete part when got a call to pick my duaghter up.
mikhail
2013-04-21 08:30:06
Mikhail: what chute did you clean?
paulheckbert
2013-04-21 21:09:59
At the of Jail trail.
mikhail
2013-04-22 06:09:58
Might have seen you cleaning up the chute, looks a lot better. Thanks.
I generally ride around it, but I'm glad it's there for new cyclists. A lot of people use that thing.
benzo
2013-04-22 06:58:02
I biked the Glenwood Bridge (both sidewalks) on Wednesday 5/8 and noticed some broken glass. Depending on my daughter's schedule, I think I'll head out there Saturday afternoon with dustpan, broom, flat-bladed shovel, and garbage bags to do some cleanup (mostly east sidewalk, north end; park in Hazelwood/Glenwood). There are weeds to deal with, also.
Anybody want to help?
paulheckbert
2013-05-10 12:39:38
Possibly, maybe a 2 in 5 chance. We'll see what the Honey-Do list looks like; that takes priority.
stuinmccandless
2013-05-10 12:43:46
I went out Sat 5/11 and did some cleanup on the west sidewalk, which I now declare to be in excellent condition, for anyone wanting to bike across the Glenwood Bridge to get to the soon-to-open GAP trail on the south side of the river.
Above: cleaning the sidewalk of 2nd Ave, Glenwood (near Hazelwood) near the north end of the Glenwood Bridge. Looking west. The dark area is where the concrete is wet - dirt and weeds were just shoveled off the sidewalk.
paulheckbert
2013-05-14 11:58:33
I propose that we do another cleanup Sunday afternoon (5/19) 2pm, meet at north end of Glenwood Bridge, east sidewalk. Can you come? Probably finishing around 5 or 6pm, depending on turnout.
The work to be done here is primarily shoveling dirt & grass, similar to the picture above.
I recommend:
flat-bladed shovel, if you have one.
broom (push or whisk).
water bottle
gloves
let me know if you think you'll come.
This is to improve connections between Pittsburgh and the Great Allegheny Passage trail, which opened near Sandcastle, at the south end of the Glenwood Bridge, yesterday!
paulheckbert
2013-05-17 09:45:14
mikhail
2013-05-17 10:10:28
I'm a 1-in-5 chance of making it. I love to do this kind of thing, but I'm a bit far, and sometime this weekend have to get my election materials ready. (I'm a Judge of Election, and have a pile of things to prepare for Tuesday.)
Even if I do make it, chances are even slimmer that I can bring any tools. I haven't tried carrying a shovel for 15 miles, but I've done stranger things.
PM me a cell #, if you don't mind, and maybe we can figure something out. Shoveling, sweeping, weed pulling, whatever.
stuinmccandless
2013-05-17 11:49:12
David Bear & Stu Strickland turned out on Sunday (5/19) and helped with the cleanup - thanks!
As far as I know, both sidewalks are quite clean now - in particular, free of glass and major weed obstructions. Use these sidewalks to get from Hazelwood or the Duck Hollow Trail across the river to the GAP trail at Sandcastle! Spread the word!
paulheckbert
2013-05-20 08:44:55
Sorry to miss you. I've been there before 14:00, rode bridge twice, stopped just passed the bridge on 2nd, waited till 14:06 and then got call from home and took off.
mikhail
2013-05-20 11:02:59
@mikhail - yes, sorry I was late. I was there from 2:30 to 6:30, with Stu and David there for much of that, also. I was late because I was coming from another cleanup (!) on the Youghiogheny River.
For the future, if you ride the bridge and see glass or weeds or something on the stairs or sidewalk, let's contact the city or county. The county is responsible for the sidewalks of the bridge (between abutments) and the city is responsible for the sidewalks and stairs off the bridge.
paulheckbert
2013-05-20 11:26:01
I think I got there around 3:15 and left around 5.
stuinmccandless
2013-05-20 12:56:37
