FROM LEFT: PITTSBURGH MAYOR ED GAINEY, CITY COUNCILMAN BOBBY WILSON, RIVERLIFE CEO MATTHEW GALLUZZO, STATE REP. AERION ABNEY AND STATE SEN. WAYNE FONTANA LIFT THE PAVERS IN A CEREMONIAL GROUNDBREAKING OF THE REHABILITATION OF ALLEGHENY RIVERFRONT PARK. | PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LINN

As Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey approached the site of a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for a project to rehabilitate the upper promenade of Downtown’s Allegheny Riverfront Park, his foot broke through one of the deteriorating bluestone panels along the walk.

It was a fitting example of the need to rebuild this linear park overlooking the Allegheny River that opened 25 years ago to great fanfare as a vital link between Downtown and the riverfront.

“As you can see this park has been loved, significantly,” said Matthew Galluzzo, president and CEO of the nonprofit Riverlife, which is overseeing the $5.4 million rehabilitation project that will stretch from the Sixth to the Ninth Street bridges — The Three Sisters Bridges. It is being rehabbed in collaboration with the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

Over the last quarter century, the promenade has deteriorated significantly; 60% of the bluestone pavers have degraded due to the freeze-thaw cycles, road salt and other wear and tear. The reconstruction will involve replacing the original pavers with thicker, more durable bluestone. They will be laid in a new configuration to increase overall durability and resilience.

THE UPPER PROMENADE OF ALLEGHENY RIVERFRONT PARK IS POISED FOR A MAKEOVER. | PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LINN

Some of the existing London Plane trees will be removed and 35 trees will be added, including redbuds at the ends of each block. More seating will be added and the park’s corners will be widened to improve sight lines and to create better pedestrian flow. The expanded open areas will be able to host food trucks, temporary art and small events.

Construction is expected to be completed by either October or November of this year, Galluzzo said. That is well ahead of the NFL Draft coming to town April 23-25, 2026 — a deadline that also is spurring other big Downtown construction projects that will be breaking ground next month — Arts Landing in the Cultural District and a reimagining of Market Square. 

The city didn’t always have this park overlooking the river. Twenty-eight years ago “this land was discarded, overlooked and vastly under-appreciated,” Galluzzo said. It was the vision of the first president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Carol Brown, who had the foresight to see the land’s potential. At that time, it carried the westbound lane of Fort Duquesne Boulevard; there was only a sliver of a sidewalk along the edge.

ARCHITECTURAL RENDERING OF THE CENTER OF THE ALLEGHENY RIVERFRONT PARK REHABILITATION AT THE SEVENTH STREET BRIDGE | LBA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

“It was a roadway,” Brown said to the dignitaries attending the groundbreaking. “There were trucks and buses and cars and no access to the rivers whatsoever.”

She teamed with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, known as MVVA, then a young architectural firm, to design the new park, which included the upper level promenade and the path below, closer to the river. They chose plant species that could survive and regenerate after flooding.

The upper promenade — which is owned and operated by the City of Pittsburgh — opened to the public in 2000.

What the officials didn’t expect was the park’s needed maintenance.

BROKEN BLUESTONE PAVERS ALONG ALLEGHENY RIVERFRONT PARK | PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LINN

In a taped Zoom discussion about the promenade project in 2022, both Brown and Michael Van Valkenburgh said they hadn’t anticipated how expensive maintenance of the promenade would be once it opened. He likened it to acquiring a rescue puppy for a nominal fee, without realizing how expensive veterinary bills and other costs would be to care for a pet.

To that end, a $1 million endowment has been established to maintain the park going into the future.

Riverlife has re-engaged MVVA to consult with the new design lead, LBA, a  local landscape architecture firm with experience creating resilient public spaces.

“Parks are so vital to the life of a city, but they age just like we do …the way people use them changes, and so it’s up to cities to help them evolve and that’s exactly what this project is doing,” said Laura Solano, a partner with MVVA who was involved in the original project in 1994.

“It’s going to be familiar for sure,” she said about the refurbished park. “But it also will look refreshed. It will be more useful and it’ll be ready to serve generations.”

Once the upper promenade is completed, Riverlife will explore rehabilitating the trail closer to the river. It’s all part of what it calls Completing The Loop, the 15 miles encompassing 1,055 acres between the West End, Hot Metal and the 31st Street bridges. Some sections still lack a trail or are poorly maintained.

Support for the upper promenade project came from a mix of funding from the state, Allegheny Regional Asset District, Heinz Endowments, Richard King Mellon Foundation, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and other entities.