TribLive: DCNR officials to tour ARP to discuss regional trail needs

TAWNYA PANIZZI   | Tuesday, March 12, 2019 12:35 p.m 

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FILE Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officials will tour Aspinwall Riverfront Park on March 13 to discuss infrastructure needs and trail connections.


Aspinwall Riverfront Park will be the backdrop Wednesday for a meeting of Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officials.

Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn and others will tour the 10-acre site that abuts the Allegheny River, while discussing how the Restore Pennsylvania proposal could help address infrastructure needs at local park and trail sites throughout Allegheny County. 

Restore Pennsylvania is Gov. Tom Wolf’s $4.5 billion, four-year plan to propel the state ahead of others in fields such as technology, development and infrastructure.

The group will meet at 11 a.m. at the parking lot of Silky’s Crows Nest at 19th Street in Sharpsburg before venturing along the riverfront.

Aspinwall Riverfront Park in 2017 opened a welcome center, thanks to nearly $600,000 in renovations paid for by grants from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and others.

The space is used for entertainment, classes and theater, and can be rented for weddings, private parties and meetings.

In summer 2018, the park opened its public, handicapped-accessible fishing dock, paid for by a donation from the estate of Crafton native William Cadwallader, along with support from the Hillman Foundation.

Money also paid for the site’s mobile kayak fleet run by Venture Outdoors.

In late 2018, Fox Chapel Crew Team announced it planned to move to the park and spend $200,000 to install low-profile docks and a gangway.