After years of painting over graffiti of genitalia and cuss words, a trail group is seeking to permanently beautify the Linden Street Tunnel in Duquesne on the Great Allegheny Passage.
The Steel Valley Trail Council wants to fight obscene art with sanctioned community art in the form of a mural.
Volunteers from the trail council clean up graffiti in the Linden Tunnel in Duquesne a half dozen times a year, said Roy Bires, the council president.
The GAP runs from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md., attracting up to 1 million bicyclists, walkers and hikers annually. The Pittsburgh area sees the heaviest traffic, according to Mr. Bires.
The trail group maintains a 10-mile section of the GAP cutting through eight Mon Valley communities, from McKeesport to the Glenwood Bridge bordering Baldwin Borough.
“We don’t have murals on this section of the trail and we thought why not put in a mural honoring the history of the area and current things? Hopefully, it will also stop the graffiti,” Mr. Bires said.
Built about 15 years ago, the Linden Tunnel is about 63 feet long and 8 feet high. The walls, constructed with smooth cement castings, are in great shape for a mural project, he said.
The tunnel, owned by Allegheny County, was built as part of the Linden Street overpass connecting the Duquesne RIDC with Route 837, or Duquesne Boulevard, Mr. Bires said.
Hiring a professional artist for a tunnel mural is appealing for multiple reasons.
The area is rich with stories to be told.
The Steel Valley portion of the GAP boasts industrial and historical sites including Kennywood and the towering smokestacks remaining after the demolition of the Homestead Works, once the world’s largest steel mill.
The trail group is considering adding to the mural a depiction of the mysterious military “Ghost Bomber” that landed in the Monongahela River in 1956 near the Glenwood Bridge.
Mr. Bires and his group are asking for public suggestions for historical and present-day content for the mural that reflects the trail’s eight communities: Mckeesport, Duquesne, West Mifflin, Whitaker, Munhall, Homestead, West Homestead and a small section of Pittsburgh.
Multi-colored designs and murals discourage graffiti, according to Project for Public Places, a Brooklyn, N.Y., nonprofit.
“Such mural projects, especially when they involve local artists and high school students, have solved many graffiti problems,” the nonprofit says on its website.
The Steel Valley trail group is commissioning artist and muralist Zachary Rutter, of Munhall, who previously has painted murals in public spaces where graffiti was a problem.
Several years ago, he created a mural for a tunnel on the Five Star Trail that runs from Greensburg to Youngwood in Westmoreland County.
“So far, the mural has been deterring graffiti artists from tagging it,” Mr. Rutter said.
“There’s a level of mutual respect among artists. Most times, graffiti artists, unless they are kids who aren’t thinking, leave it alone.”
Mr. Rutter, an art teacher at West Mifflin Area High School, doesn’t leave much room for graffiti in his projects. His style of non-stop color can fill a public space.
Inspired by the artwork in comic books when he was a kid, he gravitates to bright colors and positive imagery.
“What I love about public art is that I get to do something I love and impact someone’s daily commute,” he said.
For the Linden Tunnel project, the trail group has secured about $5,000 in grants from the Rivers of Steel Heritage Corp., the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the E.R. Crawford Estate Trust Fund.
Crawford built the first tin-plate mill in the region and lived in a since-razed mansion on Duquesne Street in Duquesne above the Linden Tunnel, Mr. Bires said.
Mon Valley and Pittsburgh residents can suggest content for the Linden Tunnel mural by emailing svtc.membership@gmail.com or calling 724-405-7882 to leave a voicemail by March 10.
The Steel Valley Trail Council will discuss and likely make a final decision on the mural content during its March 17 board meeting, set for 6 p.m. at the Waterfront Eat’n’Park in Homestead. The meeting is open to the public.
First Published: February 22, 2025, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: February 24, 2025, 4:10 p.m.
