Work is expected to start sometime in April to shore up the landslide-prone hillside along the Great Allegheny Passage biking and hiking trail below Kennywood.
The two-week project means the trail will be closed between Whitaker and Duquesne, or mile markers 136 to 138, a key segment of the 150-mile trail.
Particularly affected will be bicyclists from out of the region who may be unaware that they will be stopped by locked gates at the Whitaker and Port Perry flyovers, bridges that carry the trial over Norfolk Southern railroad tracks. Those cyclists will be stuck, with no safe way around that two-mile stretch of trail.
“There is no detour, and we do not recommend riding on local roads, which are heavily trafficked,” said Bryan Perry, executive director of the Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy.
“We understand the inconvenience this may cause to our trail users and appreciate their patience as we work to improve the GAP,” added Tom Petrus, executive director of the Regional Trail Corporation, which owns this segment of the GAP. “Our goal is to complete this project efficiently and to open the trail back up as soon as possible.”
They recommend that bicyclists arrange to hire a shuttle service to transport them and their bikes between trail access points in Duquesne and Munhall.
Pittsburgh Regional Transit buses also travel between Duquesne and Homestead using the 61C route; the Regional Trail Corporation says each bus is equipped to carry two standard-size bicycles.
Project updates and a list of shuttle services can be found at www.gaptrail.org.
Rockslides large and small bedevil the trail below Kennywood. Volunteers from the Steel Valley Trail Council, which maintains the GAP from Pittsburgh’s Hays neighborhood to McKeesport, spend much of their time shoveling rocks and mud off what used to be a corridor for a U.S. Steel coke-gas pipeline.
For the past year, signs have been posted there, warning cyclists, runners and walkers to remove their ear buds and watch for falling rock.
Start and end dates for the work have not been determined but will be announced at www.gaptrail.org when they are finalized.
Mr. Perry said trail users make more than 130,000 visits to that section of the GAP every year.
First Published: March 22, 2025, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: March 23, 2025, 1:05 a.m.
