Grant awarded for design of bike trail through Verona, Oakmont, Penn Hills and Plum
Share this post:
Penn Hills was recently granted a $1.173 million grant through the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County’s Trail Development Fund to design and engineer a multi-municipality bike and walking trail.
The project, dubbed the VOPP Trail – Verona, Oakmont, Penn Hills and Plum – is a proposed 13.4 mile stretch with most of it off-road.
Penn Hills planning director Chris Blackwell was the one who wrote the grant application for the trail.
“This is a huge step that I’m super excited about, actually ecstatic,” Blackwell said. “I think for all four communities it is a fantastic recreational opportunity for this area.
“Allegheny County desires to connect all of its parks with trails and green corridors. The waters of Plum Creek travel along a green corridor through Verona, Oakmont, Penn Hills and Plum passing Plum Creek Park, Milltown Community Park, Penn Hills Community Park and then Creekside Park on its way to Verona and the Allegheny River.”
Each community has adopted resolutions in support of the project.
Penn Hills’ grant is part of about $21.8 million in RAAC funds awarded earlier this year.
Penn Hills Mayor Pauline Calabrese commended Blackwell and others on the trail committee for their efforts.
“I’m so proud of our professional staff,” Calabrese said. “I think that this generation, they want to be able to walk. They want to be able to ride bicycles. We already received a grant. I think it’s attractive to people who want to move here from other places.
“We have a pretty unique location. We take it for granted, but we have beautiful waterways. We have beautiful vistas. We have beautiful forests to walk or take baby strollers. That’s really an attractive amenity for people.”
Blackwell said he received notice of the grant award in September, and request for proposals were to be sent out by mid-October.
Formal trail design and engineering documents are expected to be ready by December 2023 for construction to possibly start the following year.
It is unclear who will be the contractor and how long the work may take.
The trail planning process began nearly a decade ago with significant progress being made the past few years.
Blackwell said it has felt like a labor of love for the committee involved.
“The trail development community is a small hard-working community of people, and I am glad to be a part of it. I have made some great friends throughout the process,” he said. “Members of the VOPP Tail Committee started working together as early as 2003 when we completed the Allegheny River Boulevard Trail Feasibility Study.
“We kept in touch, but reunited in 2017 to begin work on the VOPP Trail. We completed another feasibility study in 2020 with funding from an Active Allegheny Grant. Allegheny County has been very supportive of this trail from the beginning. I applied for the Trail Development Fund grant on June 15 (of this year) on behalf of the four communities.”
Top recommendations from a survey in 2019 used to gather feedback on a proposed trail linking the four communities included use historic sites as trail heads, have plenty of restrooms and drinking fountains and it should remain as off-road as possible.
The proposed route that received the most support starts at Steel City Rowing along Arch Street in Verona. It goes onto Penn Street, then East Railroad Avenue past the borough building, to Center Avenue and left onto Allegheny River Boulevard toward Oakmont.
A cyclotrack, or bike lane, was proposed to help navigate the boulevard section due to on-road traffic concerns. The Oakmont section goes onto Plum Street and past Creekside Park. It follows an old railroad bed along Plum Creek and behind Creekview Gardens to Milltown Community Park. The trail ends at Boyce Park in Plum.
Estimated total project cost is around $5 million.
People can view the proposed trail at vopptrailwebmap.gototrails.com.