Exciting Upgrades to the South Side Park are coming!

phase i

The City of Pittsburgh has a Master Plan for bringing improvements to the South Side Park. Phase I of the plan is design work for the eastern edge of the park, along 18th Street and includes the 21st Street area to Josephine, and was completed in 2021. The City’s Department of Public Works is working with the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority to update the park and improve its position in handling storm water. Planned improvements will include: a storm garden, playgrounds, and public art.

ADA Trail

The park’s first ADA Trail is making its way through the city’s approval process. A 2019 grant from the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Initiative Fund covered the cost of engineering and design. LaQuatra Bonci Associates has served as the landscape architect for the trail. Fundraising for construction is underway currently.

ecological study and restoration

Another key development has been the completion of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy’s Jurassic Valley Ecological Study. This study, by ecologist Erin Copeland and partially financed by the Laurel Foundation, guides efforts to reforest the area. Allegheny GoatScape has been in Jurassic Valley for at least four weeks each year since 2017 to remove invasive vines and other plants. The goats have been invaluable partners in the fight to reforest the Valley.  FOSSP has planted over 900 native trees and shrubs in and near the Valley in the past three years. Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has donated 93 of them, Plant5forLife donated 10.

pump track for bikes and other wheels

The 2018 Master Plan called for a Pump Track to be built just north of the Arlington Ballfield behind the Arlington Fire House. A grant from the Grable Foundation in 2021 is covering the design of the Pump Track and the development of construction documents. The city will include this amenity in its Phase Two bidding package