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Background

A park operated by Allegheny County in northern Pittsburgh area.

Master Plan

Discussions about road, bike path and running trails in 2011

The 2nd master plan meeting about the areas surrounding the North Park lake in November 2011 had several ideas that affect cyclist. The main suggestion is to create a physical partition between cyclist path (1 way only- clockwise) and pedestrians/runners around the park, very much like what was built on Babcock. To implement this will require at least 50 ft wide road/path access. This requirement will pose a challenge since the current road/path width on Ingomar is ~35 ft while on Pierce Mill is ~44 ft.

To address the problem on Ingomar Road, they presented 3 main ideas: 1. Keep the road the same but the current 8 ft wide path will be for 1-way cyclist traffic only. Build a raised 6 ft wide boardwalk immediately beside the current path which would be used by 2-way pedestrian and runner traffic. (cheapest)

2. Widen Ingomar Rd on the side closest to the park by approx 3-4 ft and create at separate 6 ft wide 2-way path for pedestrian/runners, some sort of barrier, and a 5 ft wide path for 1-way bike traffic beside the road. (more expensive)

3. Widen Ingomar Rd on the side away from the park into the hill and create at separate 6 ft wide 2-way path for pedestrian/runners, some sort of barrier, and a 5 ft wide path for 1-way bike traffic beside the road. (most expensive)

Other ideas they presented include closing parts of Lakeshore Dr to car traffic past JC Stone Field during the weekend or specific hours of the weekend, add walking trails close to the water near Lakeshore Dr, add walking trails into the hill beside Lakeshore Dr (might affect mtn bike trails there), and build a raised boardwalk near the water along Ingomar Rd.

Some major complaints that I heard or seemed important to me was a) the separation of the runner/walker path from the road would prevent it from getting plowed/salted during the winter making it unusable and forcing runners/walkers on to the cycling path.

b) limiting the width of the runner/walker path to 6 ft with hard vertical barriers will make it very difficult or impossible to pass slower people.

c) a hard vertical barrier between the cycling and runner/walker path like the new sidewalk on Babcock does not provide cyclist the ability to move away from the road safely. suggested a sloping edge that will not take down a wheel.

I suggested that a 5 ft path for cyclist may not be wide enough and pose problems for kids passing other kids along Ingomar.

The runners has a lot of presence andonly 2 cyclist were there, including Fred Gohh and Nancy Furbee.

Insights

Platform tennis courts restored, rebuilt in North Park

From the P-G in September 2010 [1]

The Allegheny County Parks Department and the North Park Platform Tennis Association have dedicated two new aluminum platform tennis courts to replace older, wooden structures. They also celebrated the renovation of a wooden court and a warming hut, which were damaged during the heavy snow in February. The dedication took place early this month.

The association, which includes 14 men's and women's teams and 130 members, has a lease agreement with the county to maintain the courts. In addition to hosting association matches, the group also maintains public hours for the platform tennis courts.

The association received a $10,000 grant from the American Platform Tennis Association to build one of the new aluminum courts, and its members performed demolition and some of the construction.

Brookside Lumber in Bethel Park and HP Starr Lumber Co. in Valenica and Zelienople supplied lumber at-cost for improvements to the hut, and Carpet Network donated carpet for the hut. In all, the association has invested more than $33,000 in contributions, grants and in-kind services in improving the platform tennis complex during the past 12 months.


North Park Filed Permit
N Park field tracktor
N-Park XC-na.hill
N Park XC Na lot

Details

Photos of lane lines in the mens locker areas at the North Park Pool.

Lane lines at North Park

Lane lines can take up a lot of room.

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