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Thanks PennDot for piling so much snow on the Highland Park Bridge sidewalk

It will be a long time for all that to melt.  They just had to plow all the rest of that crap on the very edge of the road for the heck of it.   No way to ride on that crap and very dangerous to walk on as well.  Why should residents have to shovel their walks if no one else does.  What about in Aspinwall in front of Body Tech and that damn medical place?  They just literally plow the snow from their f'n parking lot onto the sidewalk and you can't even get through at all, you have to go on the f'n street to get under the f'n bridge! This area sucks!  Oh, the POS Pittsburgh Zoo and their damn sidewalk on One Wild Place.  NEVER MAINTAINED OR PLOWED EVER!!!!!!!  They suck! Sorry, but I am getting tired of this crap.
gg
2018-01-15 23:20:39
You should load up a dump truck with all the snow and debris from sidewalks, trails, bike lanes, etc and bill the City of Pittsburgh DPW for it. You could also dump some it in front of Darlene Harris's house while your at it. https://youtu.be/DSLHPzuONDU?t=201
zzwergel
2018-01-16 00:41:53
That's technically O'Hara. Aspinwall doesn't start until you hit Fink's.
edronline
2018-01-16 05:40:58
Also, I'm sure that O'Hara will say that the sidewalks are either the responsibility of the State or the private land owners. O'Hara has very few areas of sidewalk. There is a 4 house stretch along delafield that O'Hara finally got around to acknowledging that the home owners need to care for it. I bug O'Hara after every snow when the sidewalks aren't shoveled in a reasonable amount of time. They are often slow to move on compelling the home owners to shovel. What they need to do is either fine the home owners or shovel for them and bill them. This is the long way of saying that if O'Hara doesn't much care about sidewalks that receive continual complaints (from me) then they may not care that much about sidewalks that receive less complaints.  However, it is worth complaining via the contact link on their website to the township manager.   http://www.ohara.pa.us/contact.asp   I'd email the manager directly.
edronline
2018-01-16 06:52:16
For the record, because everyone in lower Aspinwall has a sidewalk in front of their house the rate of caring for them in Aspinwall is much higher and the boro routinely fines those that don't shovel.
edronline
2018-01-16 06:53:21
And since the contact link didn't work, contact the government. Council or whatever. That's how I got the Hot Metal Bridge plowed.
jonawebb
2018-01-16 07:17:36
zzwergel, might I suggest if you take that route again to take a left at Bunker Hill go two blocks up the hill and take a right then one block take a left and that would put you on Highland going downhill and a much more pleasant ride than Negley which is pretty horrible because it is just so tight.  Nice vid.
gg
2018-01-17 10:47:56
@gg, I didn't want to climb the hill. Also Highland Ave. is made of moon material.
zzwergel
2018-01-17 11:12:41
edronline, thanks for your great response. Okay, sorry for the late response.  I called O'Hara it isn't them, then Aspinwall and finally guess who actually that area is in?  Sharpsburg!  Who knew?  Anyway, they were VERY nice and they called the owner and also the plow company.  They were kind enough to give me the plow company's phone number and I will call soon to discuss if there is a solution.  The road is state (PennDot), so there is that.  I don't expect the sidewalk to be completely cleared as there is no where for snow to go and the state isn't going to have some crew messing with that.  I have to be realistic about this and just want a goat path to get through. I will follow up on this and see how it goes.  I heard the plowing company guy was super nice, so maybe if I am super nice he would be kind enough to just push that pile over a bit to give us a little spot to walk/ride.  As far as PennDot, I don't think there is much that is going to happen there.  Where can they plow the snow in reality unless they plow onto the other side/oncoming and then plow it off over there.  I don't think I will see that happen.  Oh well baby steps.  I wish PennDot wouldn't have to plow ALL the snow off that edge because when they first cleared the road they didn't plow it onto the sidewalk it was just on the side of the road, but then they come in with not one but TWO other passes that just killed the sidewalk.  Now if it gets warm enough there is salt in that mess and it will melt, so that part works sort of okay, but the amount of snow is huge and even with my big tire bike, I can't ride it.
gg
2018-01-17 13:12:53
Sharpsburg, Huh? I thought that was O'Hara. There used to be a sign half way across the river that said "O'Hara Township" on it in the northbound direction and "City of Pittsburgh" in the southbound direction. Also, what's the deal with the "Borough of Sharpsburg" sign on Rt. 28 being half-way through Sharpsburg and an "O'Hara Township" sign being like 1/10 of a mile inbound from that?
zzwergel
2018-01-17 14:39:28
The lines are funny there.  Remember, route 28 was built way after the lines were drawn
edronline
2018-01-17 15:03:36
If you Google the names of the borough's around there on the main Google search page you will see outlines of the borough borders. It gets really crazy around the Highland Park Bridge. O'Hara Township actually has a little disconnected part right around the North End of the Highland Park Bridge. It looks like it is totally surrounded by Sharpsburg in Aspinwall. That's why you see the O'Hara sign on the bridge heading north but then you're immediately dumped into Aspinwall or a little tiny sliver Sharpsburg
edronline
2018-01-17 15:15:42
Per Sharpsburg, when lines were being drawn there was some horse trading with parcels between boroughs so that boroughs could retain their water and electricity that ran across the river, etc etc. Hence the wacky lines over there.
edronline
2018-01-17 17:12:10
zzwergel  Ha, you got my tire tracks next to the fence.  I road for a bit, but had to walk and push my bike because it was too deep and soft to make it through up that hill.  That bridge is pretty darn long if you are walking in that mess pushing a bike.  I rode on the street a few times, but really hate it these days with cars going  60+mph and strings of them tailgating each other.  Maybe we will get rain soon.  Nice vid.
gg
2018-01-17 23:48:05
Oh, it will flood again this weekend. Sustained temps in the 40s, maybe some rain. Bigger snow pack than before. Some ice on the rivers to impede flow.
edronline
2018-01-18 07:00:17
Working from home today.   Wonder how the sidewalk is on the HPB?  Probably still a mess, but hopefully I can ride it.
gg
2018-01-19 19:39:13
Next big snow, can one of us go up there about 3 a.m. with a shovel and run a one shovel width path the length of the bridge, plus pedestrian approach? I'm curious to see how long it takes to do the minimum amount of clearing. One time on my lunch hour, when I worked in the Cardello Building, after a 12" snow, I shoveled the part of the West End Bridge from the Cardello parking lot to Western Ave. As I recall, I ate a carrot as I worked, shoveling one-handed and using my foot to kick the shovel to clear it. Took me about 45 minutes, but there was a nice path for the pedestrians until it thawed about 10 days later.
stuinmccandless
2018-01-20 17:18:58
3:00 AM. I don't think so. Maybe 12:00-4:00 PM. on a Saturday or Sunday.
zzwergel
2018-01-20 20:53:40
Stu, the problem is PennDot plows the snow on the sidewalk, but it isn't easy to remove.  One good think about the Highland Park Bridge is the sidewalk has southern exposure, so the sun hits it pretty good.  Most of the snow is melted now, but there is debris because the damn plow trucks just have to plow right up to the damn edge of the road where all the crap sits, so that is another issue.  I have blown the debris off with a leaf blower several times in the spring and it takes about an hour just doing that with a backpack blower.  I don't do it much anymore because I work so damn much these days.
gg
2018-01-21 00:52:17
Well the wonderful detour signs are back on the HPB sidewalk.  I submitted a complaint, but not sure it went through.  They have sign holders on the poles that are in place on the bridge so they don't need to block the sidewalk with those sign holders with the big bases and sandbags, but I guess they forgot they have the holders installed.  Oh well, it is a pain as always.  The Highland Park Bridge sidewalk is just a dumping ground for PennDot I guess.  They must not think anyone ever uses it, but it is used now more than ever.   Oh well, I just commute daily across that damn bridge and I never know what PennDot will do next.
gg
2018-03-06 12:17:20
I submitted the same complaint last week Friday. As of this am the poles seem to be off the sidewalk and mounted to the divider between the sidewalk and the roadway? Also since no one really cares about bikes I played up the non ADA adherent angle. Ie blocking access for wheelchairs on that sidewalk.
edronline
2018-03-06 14:35:41
My apologies for not updating this matter.  The last time I went across the bridge on the sidewalk it was clear of the sign mess with the sandbags.  I haven't been around for a while, but hope it is still clear.  They cleared it very fast to be honest.  I am okay with mistakes and they fixed the issue.  Thanks for the ear you folks provided.
gg
2018-03-23 14:03:25
Bridge sidewalk is still covered in broken glass and grit.
zzwergel
2018-03-24 20:18:49