THE NONPROFIT RIVERLIFE INSTALLED THE SHORE THING FLOATING PLATFORM IN LATE JUNE OFF THE NORTH SHORE AT ALLEGHENY LANDING. IT WILL RETURN EACH SUMMER SEASON. | PHOTO COURTESY RIVERLIFE

Development around the Sister Bridges in Pittsburgh’s Downtown area gets a big boost in Riverlife’s ongoing comprehensive fundraising campaign that just kicked off its public phase to bring in the last $5 million.

The nonprofit has raised $25 million toward its $30 million goal to fund the first phase of its Completing the Loop vision plan, which aims to transform the 15-mile, 1,055 loop that connects parks, bike trails and green spaces along the three rivers.

Riverlife hopes to bring in the remaining $5 million from the public by Memorial Day 2026. The total amount is earmarked for projects around the Sister Bridges, planning for improvements to the West End Bridge area and care and maintenance of existing spaces.

“Two and a half years ago, we launched a vision for what we call the Sister Bridges Experience, which was really looking at the open spaces, the parks, the trails, the bridges themselves, the water as the sort of binder between the Cultural District and the Warhol’s Pop District and amenities like PNC Park,” says Matt Galluzzo, president and CEO of Riverlife.

More than $18 million is committed to improvements to Allegheny Riverfront Park along the edge of Downtown, Allegheny Landing on the North Shore and the adjacent barge known as Shore Thing, which are all part of the Sister Bridges Experience.

Riverlife launched Shore Thing in late June. It’s a floating platform anchored off the North Shore at Allegheny Landing that offers food, entertainment, space for yoga sessions and just overall relaxation. It’s built on 10 small barges, each 40 feet long and 10 feet wide, encompassing 4,500 square feet, and its intent has been to be a gathering spot for art, play and community.

“I think the public support for this intervention, this experiment as I call it, has been overwhelming,” Galluzzo says. “It’s been really great to see people treating this as an extension of the park.”

A “Last Splash Celebration” will be held Oct. 18 and then the platform will be moved off site for the winter, he says. It will return in the spring.

Here are details about other projects to be supported by the campaign:

Allegheny Riverfront Park

Renovation of the pathway improvements to the upper deck of this linear park is on track to be completed by November, Galluzzo says. All of the new landscaping will take place in the spring. The improvements stretch from the Sixth to the Ninth Street bridges — The Three Sister Bridges. This project cost $5.4 million and was part of the funds that have been raised so far.

THE ALLEGHENY RIVERFRONT PARK IN MARCH, WHEN RIVERLIFE KICKED OFF A $5.4 MILLION RENOVATION PROJECT. THE HARDSCAPE IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED IN NOVEMBER. | PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LINN

Exploratory planning is underway of the lower pathway between the 10th Street Bypass and the Allegheny River that stretches from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center to the entrance to Point State Park. Because any improvements would include support and agreements from the Sports and Exhibition Authority, the City of Pittsburgh, the Cultural Trust and the state Department of Transportation, no timeline has been set for those improvements, he says.

“We’re doing that preliminary work before we have the public conversation about what we might want to see there,” Galluzzo says. “Because of the complications dealing with the roadways and the partners, this is a much longer vision for those spaces.”

Allegheny Landing

Across the river, Allegheny Landing is a city park that was created in 1984 as the first riverfront sculpture park. “Our plans here are to really celebrate, honor and elevate the history of this park, while also making the park relevant for 21st century users,” he says. They want to introduce accessible pathways, places for quiet moments as well as places for play, like water features and sculptural playscapes. “We don’t have a ton of opportunities on our riverfronts for play.”

Riverlife is about 90% of the way through the redesigns of this park.

West End Bridge

In the future, the West End Bridge will be the epicenter for both infrastructure and real estate development, with the Esplanade — a $600 million project with residential, retail and restaurants, an aquarium, Ferris wheel and more — coming on board. There is also PennDOT’s preservation of the historic West End Bridge, which turns 100 in 2032.

A RENDERING OF THE ESPLANADE DEVELOPMENT. | PHOTO COURTESY MILLCRAFT INVESTMENTS

“We’re spending a lot of time in deep, community engagement over there,” Galluzzo says. “We’ve invested over $2 million and we’ll be investing more in the pedestrian and multimodal experience at the bridge. I think the plans that we’re creating really set us up to ensure that the public really benefits from the seismic investments that are happening there.”

He said that is a “key project” for Riverlife and that the capital investments on the actual projects will come at a later date.

UpKeep: Care and Maintenance

In 2026, Riverlife will be officially launching Upkeep, a program that he says is unique to this region and will fund the care and maintenance of the parks, paths and public spaces created around the 15-mile Loop. Currently there is $6.5 million in that fund, and it is continuing to grow, he says.

“This is our sort of delivery on the promise that not only are we building these spaces,” he says, “but we are going to care for them in perpetuity, which is a really great story.”