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Ride of Silence to honor felled bicyclists

Written by Jon Schmitz on .

The 10th Ride of Silence will take place Wednesday evening, starting in Oakland. It is meant to honor those killed or injured while bicycle riding in Pittsburgh and to raise public awareness of the need for drivers and bicyclists to share the road and be safe.

The event and 10-mile ride will begin at the dinosaur statue at Forbes Avenue at Schenley Drive with 45 minutes of ceremony starting at 6:15 p.m., followed by the ride. Organizers are focusing on the mayoral campaign as the May 21 primary nears, and will follow a course that passes as many campaign offices as possible. Expected to attend is Dan Yablonsky, who was severely injured in a hit-and-run crash one year ago. For more on the event, click here.

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Reminder: Nearly two miles of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the North Shore will be off-limits through Friday during a construction project. Friends of the Riverfront announced that the project will occur on the crushed limestone section along the Allegheny River, from 600 River Ave. to the Three Rivers Rowing Club Boathouse in Millvale. The work includes correcting drainage problems, elevating the trail and resurfacing it with reclaimed asphalt and sealant. Trailhead parking lots along River Avenue also will be closed.

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The Bethel Branch of the Montour Trail will hold its 8th annual J.R. Taylor Memorial 5K Race/Walk on Saturday, June 1. Proceeds support trail and bridge maintenance and improvements along the trail. Participants can register (fee $20 through Friday, $25 thereafter) at www.runhigh.com. Forms also are available at boards along the trail.

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roadconstructionWork on a two-year $6.3 million construction project on Route 65 from Emsworth to the McKees Rocks Bridge was scheduled to begin today. About five miles of the road will be milled and resurfaced. The initial work will cause short-term lane closures overnight starting at 8 p.m. and concluding by 6 a.m. for about two weeks. Traffic eventually will be reduced to one lane in both directions around the clock.

Elsewhere on Route 65, bridge inspection will cause periodic lane closures from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Friday in the area between Dickson Street and Laurel Avenue in Ben Avon.

The final phase of realignment of Brownsville Road at Curry Hollow Road was scheduled to begin this morning as an $8.6 million project to improve traffic flow through the area continues. An alternating one-way pattern will be in effect on Brownsville from Willard Drive to Curry Hollow Road with flaggers controlling traffic from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through May 24. Paving will cause restrictions on Brownsville at Fifth and Sixth streets during the same hours through Friday, the department said. The project to realign Brownsville, Broughton and Curry Hollow Roads in South Park, Baldwin Borough and Pleasant Hills, will continue into the fall.

837

A major construction project will cause restrictions, road and ramp closures along Route 837 in Clairton, West Elizabeth and Jefferson Hills starting today. The work is at the interchange with Route 51 north of the Elizabeth Bridge. These traffic changes are part of the project and will be in place around the clock through mid-July:

Route 837 will be narrowed to one 10-foot lane in both directions from Burnett Street to St. Clair Street in Clairton; southbound Route 837 will be closed at the interchange with Route 51 and traffic will detour using the on-ramp to Route 51 and the ramp from Route 51 back to Route 837. Northbound Route 837 will remain open. The ramp from northbound Route 837 to southbound Route 51 will be closed, as will the southbound Route 51 ramp to northbound Route 837. Detours have been posted.

Nearby on Route 51, temporary lane restrictions are possible at several intersections during traffic signal work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays through May 24. The affected intersections are at Weigles Hill Road in Elizabeth Township, Lewis Run Road in Pleasant Hills and Peters Creek Road, Old Clairton Road, Jefferson Boulevard and Coal Valley Road in  Jefferson Hills.

Emergency work to repair an inlet box has closed the southbound right lane on Route 48-Mosside Boulevard between Daugherty Drive and Gateway Campus Boulevard in Monroeville. The lane was expected to reopen this week.

More work on Route 50: Short-term lane closures are possible weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Hope Hollow Road in Scott to Boden Avenue in Carnegie. Overnight lane closures are possible after 8 p.m. daily. Crews will patch and repave.

Northbound Seventh Street in Downtown Pittsburgh is closed between Liberty and Penn avenues by construction in front of the Benedum Center.

Restriping of the 10th Street Bypass will cause ramp closures and lane restrictions on Tuesday. The Fort Duquesne Bridge off-ramp to the bypass and the eastbound left lane of the bypass will be closed from 10 a.m. to noon. The Fort Pitt Bridge off-ramp to the bypass and the eastbound right lane will close from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Traffic will be detoured from the bridges to Fort Duquesne Boulevard.

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Grow figs like the old Italian guys

Written by Diana Nelson Jones on .

 
A friend introduced me to The Italian Garden Project two summers ago, when a group of us took a tour of gardens in Morningside.  Mary Menniti of Sewickley founded the Project and has turned it into a network not just of natives of Italy who garden in the old-school ways but first-generation Italians who have continued the traditions and people like me who want to emulate them and celebrate their prodigious efficiency.
 
Now I can find out all about growing figs, and you can too.
 
“Everything you ever wanted to know about growing fig trees” classes will start in June. There will be four, each month through September. The two-hour classes are $40 and 15 people can be in each one.
 
They are the following Saturday mornings from 10.30a to 12.30p, starting at the Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley and followed by a tour of a garden:  June 29, July 27, August 24, Sept 14. Reservations are required.  Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
 

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Section of North Shore trail to close next week

Written by Jon Schmitz on .

trailclosed

Nearly two miles of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the North Shore will be off-limits from Monday through Friday next week during a construction project.
Friends of the Riverfront announced that the project will occur on the crushed limestone section along the Allegheny River, from 600 River Ave. to the Three Rivers Rowing Club Boathouse in Millvale. The work includes correcting drainage problems, elevating the trail and resurfacing it with reclaimed asphalt and sealant. Trailhead parking lots along River Avenue also will be closed.

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A reminder to check earlier posts for much more about upcoming road work, including Squirrel Hill Tunnel closures.

A major reconstruction project starts Monday on Route 65 from Locust Street in Avalon to Hiland Avenue in Emsworth. Traffic will be restricted to one lane in both directions around the clock through November.

Washington Road-Route 19 work continues this weekend in Mt. Lebanon, with single-lane traffic in both directions between Connor-Gilkeson roads and Alfred Street from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday.
 
Line painting is scheduled on the Parkway North from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Monday and Wednesday. If you see a paint truck, slow down and stay well back unless specks and spatters of white paint would be the perfect accent for your car’s color scheme.
 
The merge point where the two-lane ramp from the northbound Veterans Bridge to the outbound Parkway North goes to just one lane has been shifted. Traffic must merge sooner, near the Route 28 off-ramp on the bridge. This will accommodate crews who are replacing bearing pedestrals on the ramp. Work occurs from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through May 30, and the contractor may squeeze in some night work after 8 p.m.
 
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Tech links: NSA issues manual on searching the Web; Barnes and Noble stock jumps

Written by Ced Kurtz on .

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Treedom! Treedom! Treedom!

Written by Diana Nelson Jones on .

treewrapped
 
In “Atlantic Cities” today, Henry Grabar writes about the Treedom Project started by a man named named Rob Birdsong in New York City who saw a tree in chains and decided to free it. Then he saw another and got arborists involved.
 
We all see old bike chains, light strings and other strangulating devices eating into the skin of trees. Some trees grow over them. I've seen trees grow around the rails of iron fences. Like many people, many trees are resilient. But constriction can weaken them and shorten their lifespans, too.
 
In part, the article reads: “Since deciding to free a Japanese Zelkova choked by an old chain outside his Brooklyn home, Birdsong has assembled over a dozen targets for the mass de-girdling. “And I’m just one guy with one set of eyes,” he says. “Let’s see if we can open it up to getting feedback from other people in New York.” It’s a good question: Of the city’s 5.5 million trees, how many have been locked up for decades?"
 
Every day, I walk past trees that are being tortured by all sorts of constraints and heedless mangling.  I worry about the young saplings in the middle sidewalk strip in front of the River Vue apartments on Commonwealth Place. (One is shown in photo above.) For them,  I have a rogue fantasy of unwrapping strings of Christmas lights that have encircled the trunk and branches of each one. 
 
Not wanting to be accused of stealing Christmas lights, I called Piatt Properties at 412.434.5700 and was told the site is managed by Lincoln Eastern Management Corp. in Bethel Park, so I called and left a message at 833.2666. Unsure whether the trees are private or public property, I also left a message with city arborist Lisa Ceoffe to see if the city has the authority to exert.
 
Feel free to get behind my own “treedom” project. One after another set of eyes could save a lot of trees.
 

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