Allegheny Riverfront Park is a municipal park that runs along the south bank of the Allegheny River in Downtown

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. It is a parcel of the

Three Rivers Park Three Rivers Park is a public urban waterfront park along the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The park, under development since 2000, is currently defined by the boundaries of the West End Bridge over the ...

, the city's grand urban waterfront park project along its rivers that will provide a continuous green trail connecting existing and future riverfront developments. Completed segments include North Shore Riverfront Park, South Shore Riverfront Park, and

Point State Park Point State Park (locally known as The Point) is a Pennsylvania state park on in Downtown Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, forming the Ohio River. Built on land acqu ...

. The boundaries of the park are the Ninth Street Pier and

Fort Duquesne Bridge The Fort Duquesne Bridge is a steel bowstring arch bridge that spans the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was colloquially referred to as "The Bridge to Nowhere". History The bridge was constructed from 1958-1963 by PennDOT, and ...

. The park consists of two 4,000 foot promenades that run along the river on either side of the multilevel 10th Street Bypass and Fort Duquesne Boulevard above. The lower tier, which is at river level, opened in 1998, while the upper tier was completed in 2001. Each of the Three Sisters bridges—

Roberto Clemente Bridge The Roberto Clemente Bridge, also known as the Sixth Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. History First bridge The original bridge at the site was a wooden covered bridge with six spans, ...

Andy Warhol Bridge Andy Warhol Bridge, also known as the Seventh Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh. It is the only bridge in the United States named for a visual artist. It was opened at a cost of $1.5 million on June 17, 1926, in a ...

, and

Rachel Carson Bridge __NOTOC__ Rachel Carson Bridge, also known as the Ninth Street Bridge, spans the Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. The total length is including the main span and two side spans, or including the appr ...

— intersects with the park. The idea of riverfront parks for downtown Pittsburgh dates back to 1911 and a plan prepared by the

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law O ...

. The proposal was revived in the early 1990s when the

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (PCT) is a nonprofit arts organization formed in 1984 to promote economic and cultural development in Downtown Pittsburgh. The "Trust" has focused its work on a 14-square block section called the Cultural District, w ...

's District Plan called for a riverfront park to frame the Cultural District's northern boundary. The Trust's Public Arts Advisory Committee commissioned a collaboration between artists Ann Hamilton, Michael Mercil, and landscape architect

Michael Van Valkenburgh Michael Robert Van Valkenburgh (born September 5, 1951) is an American landscape architect and educator. He has worked on a wide variety of projects in the United States, Canada, Korea, and France, including public parks, college campuses, sculp ...

, who is a professor of landscape architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and his firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) to create the new park. According to Carol Brown, the head of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust at the time, "the challenges of the site became the strengths of the final design of the park. Two parallel linear spaces dissected by highways, with vastly different elevations and periodic flooding, led MVVA, Hamilton, and Mercil to create an innovative, complex and highly successful design vocabulary for the park". In 2002, Allegheny Riverfront Park received a Design Merit Award from the ASLA, and a Places/EDRA Place Design Award.

References

* *Berrizbeitia, Anita, ed., ''Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates: Reconstructing Urban Landscapes'', essay by Jane Amidon, "Allegheny Riverfront Park: Material, Event, Sensation", Yale University Press, New Haven, 2009, 67–83 *Freeman, Allen. "Going to the Edge." ''Landscape Architecture'' 93, no.7 (July 2003), 86–91, 106–07 *Lowry, Patricia. "Park Utilizes Native Amenities." ''Pittsburgh Post Gazette''. 30 November 199
Allegheny Riverfront Park Opening: story by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Retrieved May 22, 2006. *Lowry, Patricia. "Urban Revitalizer" ''Metropolis'' 21, no. 5 (January 2002), 66–67 *Pearson, Clifford A. "Allegheny Riverfront Park, Pittsburgh." ''Architectural Record'' 188, no. 3 (March2000), 102–05.

External links

Allegheny Riverfront ParkMVVA website
{{authority control Parks in Pittsburgh Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in the United States Urban public parks 1998 establishments in Pennsylvania Protected areas established in 1998