2012 PVT Trail Proposal
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Matt Szekely
Jan 7, 2012, 12:33:16 PM1/7/12
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PVT Google Group,
Hope you all had a nice holiday break and that the new year will bring us all more awesome trail mileage at PV park. Joe G. and I have been working on mapping out some of the park's trails and features over the past few weeks and also refining the proposed trail alignments for 2012.
For those of you who came to the December field meeting where we walked the trail #1 area, you know some of the following already. The new trail for 2012 discussed amongst the group at the meeting consisted of a "loop" trail off of Hemlock trail extending to the Northeast property corner. After some deliberation, it was decided that instead of 1 loop, we should build 2 stacked loops to maximize the trail mileage for this particular area of the park . The attached map shows these two new trail alignments. The upper (orange) trail and the lower (pink) trail are both flagged in the field in their respective trail colors. Please feel free to check them out and comment in the next few weeks before we finalize our trail proposal. All feedback is welcome!
The orange trail is fairly straight forward. Approximate length is 1500' (.28 miles).
The pink trail may pose some difficulty. Our preferred alignment would require a significantly (approximately 30' span) sized bridge to cross a very large "gully". This will be a challenge not only to construct, but also to get approval and receive the appropriate funding to build. Building a bridge of this size would be very positive in that it would create a "point of interest" at the park as well as give the newly formed group (PVT) some credibility for future TTF / bike park type proposals. The negative of the large bridge would be all the required efforts and resources to make it happen, along with taking time away from building other trails/features at the park that the group may be interested in. We have also looked at an alternate alignment to avoid building a large bridge that will require a long downhill followed by a long uphill to cross the "gully" area. The negatives of using the alternate trail would be possibly creating a trail that will have a lower fun factor due to the large grade changes. People may be reluctant to use it. The pink trail grade as shown on the map would be about 15% for about 200' north of the "gully" and 10% for 300' south of the "gully". To give some perspective on these grades, the section of red maple trail between its intersection with white oak trail and its intersection with hornbeam/chestnut trail is about 10% for 500' (pine tree section). Also, the section of hornbeam through the open fields from the previously mentioned intersection is about 10% for 600'. Approximate length of the pink trail is 2100 ft (0.4) miles.
So what do you all think of this? Are you interested? Should we propose just the orange trail or both orange and pink trail? If we propose both trails with the big bridge, we will likely have to receive a separate approval of the bridge design itself later in the year. Does anyone have access to donations for possible bridge materials? Some useful materials that would help that come to mind:
-stone
-concrete
-timber or poles
-steel beams or angles
-nails
-bolts
Hope you all had a nice holiday break and that the new year will bring us all more awesome trail mileage at PV park. Joe G. and I have been working on mapping out some of the park's trails and features over the past few weeks and also refining the proposed trail alignments for 2012.
For those of you who came to the December field meeting where we walked the trail #1 area, you know some of the following already. The new trail for 2012 discussed amongst the group at the meeting consisted of a "loop" trail off of Hemlock trail extending to the Northeast property corner. After some deliberation, it was decided that instead of 1 loop, we should build 2 stacked loops to maximize the trail mileage for this particular area of the park . The attached map shows these two new trail alignments. The upper (orange) trail and the lower (pink) trail are both flagged in the field in their respective trail colors. Please feel free to check them out and comment in the next few weeks before we finalize our trail proposal. All feedback is welcome!
The orange trail is fairly straight forward. Approximate length is 1500' (.28 miles).
The pink trail may pose some difficulty. Our preferred alignment would require a significantly (approximately 30' span) sized bridge to cross a very large "gully". This will be a challenge not only to construct, but also to get approval and receive the appropriate funding to build. Building a bridge of this size would be very positive in that it would create a "point of interest" at the park as well as give the newly formed group (PVT) some credibility for future TTF / bike park type proposals. The negative of the large bridge would be all the required efforts and resources to make it happen, along with taking time away from building other trails/features at the park that the group may be interested in. We have also looked at an alternate alignment to avoid building a large bridge that will require a long downhill followed by a long uphill to cross the "gully" area. The negatives of using the alternate trail would be possibly creating a trail that will have a lower fun factor due to the large grade changes. People may be reluctant to use it. The pink trail grade as shown on the map would be about 15% for about 200' north of the "gully" and 10% for 300' south of the "gully". To give some perspective on these grades, the section of red maple trail between its intersection with white oak trail and its intersection with hornbeam/chestnut trail is about 10% for 500' (pine tree section). Also, the section of hornbeam through the open fields from the previously mentioned intersection is about 10% for 600'. Approximate length of the pink trail is 2100 ft (0.4) miles.
So what do you all think of this? Are you interested? Should we propose just the orange trail or both orange and pink trail? If we propose both trails with the big bridge, we will likely have to receive a separate approval of the bridge design itself later in the year. Does anyone have access to donations for possible bridge materials? Some useful materials that would help that come to mind:
-stone
-concrete
-timber or poles
-steel beams or angles
-nails
-bolts
Any and all feedback are welcome here. Thanks for reading!
Matt
Bonnie Belak
Jan 11, 2012, 12:28:44 AM1/11/12
to pvtrail...@googlegroups.com
The trail that is proposed looks fine on paper. Not sure if I will make it out to check out the real flagged trail - but I love the idea of a bridge. (Can we propose to name it? "The Edward K Straub Bridge" at PV Park. Maybe ask for donations in Ed Straub's name. Great tie in from the old group to the new group. If you don't know who Ed is - check out the bottom of this http://www.pvpark.org/memorial.htm)
My daughter always jokes that we should make a bridge out of that one big tree that fell across one of the big gullies. Don't remember whether it is a dead tree or one that was felled by lightening or a windstorm. Says that all it needs is a rope line, to give the less brave something to hold onto. It is on Hornbeam I believe. Joe would probably know which one I am talking about.
As to whether they will approve it or not - my theory is - if you don't ask - you will never know.
Would it be worth it to ACTUALLY do both the "alternate" as well as the bridge on the pink trail? For those park users unwilling to cross a bridge? (High bridges do freak some people out.)
-
One major question on the trail proposal.
Are we only proposing two new trails?
What about some trails in the valley below Hornbeam? Other places?
Can't think of anything else at the moment.
Bonnie Belak
My daughter always jokes that we should make a bridge out of that one big tree that fell across one of the big gullies. Don't remember whether it is a dead tree or one that was felled by lightening or a windstorm. Says that all it needs is a rope line, to give the less brave something to hold onto. It is on Hornbeam I believe. Joe would probably know which one I am talking about.
As to whether they will approve it or not - my theory is - if you don't ask - you will never know.
Would it be worth it to ACTUALLY do both the "alternate" as well as the bridge on the pink trail? For those park users unwilling to cross a bridge? (High bridges do freak some people out.)
-
One major question on the trail proposal.
Are we only proposing two new trails?
What about some trails in the valley below Hornbeam? Other places?
Can't think of anything else at the moment.
Bonnie Belak
Gerstenhaber Ed
Jan 11, 2012, 7:24:05 AM1/11/12
to pvtrail...@googlegroups.com
Murrysville Council will soon be voting on a proposal to name a trail in Bear Hollow after Ed Straub. Not sure that they will want to do a bridge for the same person.
Ed
Matt Szekely
Jan 11, 2012, 9:22:32 AM1/11/12
to pvtrail...@googlegroups.com
There is definitely room for more trails in other places, but we felt these one or two trails would be enough to keep us busy for this year. The alternate route will require a lot of bench cutting, so I'm not sure that having two parallel trails would be worth the extra work if we went with the bridge route.
Also, we'd install handrails so that it would be safe for all users.
I think we could handle getting approval, designing, and constructing with the people we have on board, however we'll need to get creative in our fundraising efforts. It won't be a cheap bridge, but it would be a pretty awesome addition to the park, IMHO.
On Jan 11, 2012 12:28 AM, "Bonnie Belak" <bsbj...@gmail.com> wrote:
The trail that is proposed looks fine on paper. Not sure if I will make it out to check out the real flagged trail - but I love the idea of a bridge. (Can we propose to name it? "The Edward K Straub Bridge" at PV Park. Maybe ask for donations in Ed Straub's name. Great tie in from the old group to the new group. If you don't know who Ed is - check out the bottom of this http://www.pvpark.org/memorial.htm)
My daughter always jokes that we should make a bridge out of that one big tree that fell across one of the big gullies. Don't remember whether it is a dead tree or one that was felled by lightening or a windstorm. Says that all it needs is a rope line, to give the less brave something to hold onto. It is on Hornbeam I believe. Joe would probably know which one I am talking about.
As to whether they will approve it or not - my theory is - if you don't ask - you will never know.
Would it be worth it to ACTUALLY do both the "alternate" as well as the bridge on the pink trail? For those park users unwilling to cross a bridge? (High bridges do freak some people out.)
-
One major question on the trail proposal.
Are we only proposing two new trails?
What about some trails in the valley below Hornbeam? Other places?
Can't think of anything else at the moment.
Bonnie Belak
On Sat, Jan 7, 2012 at 12:33 PM, Matt Szekely <msze...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> PVT Google Group, ...
Adam C's
Jan 11, 2012, 9:42:26 AM1/11/12
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Paul and I looked at trail #2 on sunday. We found a route that gets to incorporate the hill and field and may even be able to tie into the existing white oak trail. We were hoping to have a group meeting sunday morning to further discuss our findings. If you could let us know who can make it would be appreciated.
Thanks for choosing Adam C's
Matt Szekely
Jan 11, 2012, 3:58:06 PM1/11/12
to pvtrail...@googlegroups.com
I can be there after 11.
Gerstenhaber Ed
Jan 21, 2012, 12:47:55 PM1/21/12
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Not sure who would do this, or how the group decides if it is interested, but the Murrysville web site has a page dedicated to community organizations:
If you wanted some more publicity you could submit a small write-up on PV Trailbuilders. The contact at the municipal building is Cherie Weber:
Ed
<PV.pdf>
Lanie Wilson
Jan 21, 2012, 1:37:41 PM1/21/12
to pvtrail...@googlegroups.com, pvtrail...@googlegroups.com
Thanks Ed this is great to know! I think it would be a good to do.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Don Olson
Jan 23, 2012, 7:24:38 AM1/23/12
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Hi folks,
I would like to be involved in this but you always have meetings on Sun which is my ride day and a lot of folks who are interested typically ride on Sun as well. Is there a way to maybe move meetings to another day or time? I think you might get a bit more turnout? Thanks, Don
Matt Szekely
Jan 23, 2012, 9:55:12 AM1/23/12
to pvtrail...@googlegroups.com
Don,
Thanks for your feedback. I'm not sure that we will continue to meet on Sundays. Sundays just happened to work out for our recent push towards refining the scope for this year's proposal.
Matt
On Jan 23, 2012 7:24 AM, "Don Olson" <pamt...@gmail.com> wrote:Hi folks,I would like to be involved in this but you always have meetings on Sun which is my ride day and a lot of folks who are interested typically ride on Sun as well. Is there a way to maybe move meetings to another day or time? I think you might get a bit more turnout? Thanks, Don
On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 12:58 PM, Matt Szekely <msze...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I can be there after ...
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