The Three Rivers Heritage Trail runs along the Allegheny through the Strip District and then ends at 24th Street. Between there and 33rd Street lies a stretch of former CSX rail corridor that Friends of the Riverfront described in 2020 as nearly a mile long. On September 24, 2026, Mayor Corey O'Connor stood under the 33rd Street Railroad Bridge with CSX, Friends of the Riverfront, and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato to announce an agreement that could finally move that land into city hands.
The trail's past closures help explain why this agreement is different. Earlier interruptions in the Strip happened because of construction, and each one ended when the work was done. The gap north of 24th Street has no construction to wait out. Someone else owns the land.
Two Long Closures, Both Caused by Construction
Anyone who has used the Strip's riverfront path for a decade remembers it being fenced off. Twice, development projects took over a section for years at a time.
- Through 2015. Buncher Company construction closed the trail from 23rd Street down to 11th Street for more than two years. BikePGH's September 2015 announcement of the reopening described sustained public pressure to get it back.
- 2019 to 2021. Construction staging at Buncher's Riverfront Landing site was expected to close the section between 15th and 21st streets for about two and a half years, according to Riverlife's June 2019 update. WESA reported in October 2021 that the stretch had reopened.
Both closures were painful while they lasted, and both had an end date built in. Once the buildings were up, the path came back.
The stretch past 24th Street has never worked that way. No crew is about to finish and pack up, because the path was never there. It runs over a rail corridor that the trail's stewards could not simply walk onto.
Why Railbanking Was the Plan
In April 2020, TribLive reported that the city planned to acquire the abandoned nine-block CSX line between 24th and 33rd streets. The city said then that its existing trail ended at 24th Street, and that development had also cut off trail access coming into the Strip.
That October, Friends of the Riverfront explained the approach. The group had spent a year and a half working with the city on the corridor. It was pursuing railbanking so the land could be acquired as one parcel, rather than negotiating access across separate parcels one owner at a time. The process called for title work, an appraisal, and a survey.
That one-parcel approach is the thread connecting 2020 to this fall. A trail built across several private properties can be interrupted whenever any one of them changes hands or breaks ground, and Strip regulars have seen that happen twice. A single corridor in public ownership avoids that risk. The 2020 estimates of when a trail might open have long since passed, and the six years in between show how slow this kind of acquisition is.
What the September 2026 Agreement Actually Says
The city's release describes a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, with CSX. Under it, CSX would convey about 4.61 acres of the Strip District Trail corridor to the city "to reconnect the currently disrupted riverfront trail to a continuous connection to 33rd Street." The same agreement covers the Duck Hollow segment, two proposed pedestrian bridges in Duck Hollow and Hazelwood, and surplus land next to the Melancthon Pedestrian Bridge.
"This has been a long time in the making and we are glad to get this over the finish line," O'Connor said in the release. Rodney Oglesby, CSX's director of state relations, called it "an important step toward improving trail connectivity while protecting the safety and operational needs of our rail network."
Speaking to NEXTpittsburgh, Kate Angell, director of development and communications at Friends of the Riverfront, described the Strip connection this way:
"This part of the trail has been a long-held hope for us and definitely part of our mission of expanding the trail across Allegheny County and down all three of the rivers. This announcement is part of a culmination of years of work that Friends has been doing behind the scenes and under the radar for a really long time."
The city credits a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for coordinating the project, and the Open Space Institute for supporting land acquisition. As of early October, none of the coverage names a source of money for building the trail.
What Has to Happen Before Anyone Can Walk It
The agreement settles the question that blocked the corridor for years. It does not bring a paved path. Based on the city's release and NEXTpittsburgh's October 5 report, here is what is still ahead:
- Formal agreements. The MOU sets out preliminary terms, and the transactions still need to be finalized.
- Federal and city approval. The plans need sign-off from the Surface Transportation Board and Pittsburgh City Council.
- Design money. The city still has to secure funding to design the projects.
- A schedule and a cost. None of the coverage includes a construction start date, budget, or opening date for the Strip segment.
The city has said where it eventually wants the trail to reach. Friends of the Riverfront would like it to keep going past 33rd Street into the Lawrenceville segment.
What the Missing Mile Holds Today
The blocks between 24th and 33rd streets are not empty. They hold some of the Strip's newest buildings and several places you probably already go. The trail just doesn't connect them.
Right at the current trail end, Kelly O's sits at 100 24th Street and Wigle Whiskey Distillery is at 2401 Smallman Street. A couple of blocks up, Cinderlands Warehouse is at 2601 Smallman Street.
Further along, Oxford Development's 3 Crossings campus has Hopper Park at its center. Oxford describes it as a public gathering space connected to the riverfront trail network. As far back as 2019, Riverlife reported that the 3 Crossings project at 28th Street planned a several-block extension of the riverfront trail. A connection at 3 Crossings is not a continuous route, though. The city's September release still calls the corridor to 33rd Street disrupted, and that is the gap the CSX land is meant to close.
You can see the gap this month. The Pittsburgh Monster Pumpkins Festival takes over 3 Crossings between 28th and 29th streets on October 17 and 18, 2026, and the organizer bills it as a free family festival. It lands right in the middle of the corridor the trail doesn't yet reach. Walk up from 24th Street and you will be on the sidewalks, not beside the river.
POGOH bike-share works around the gap for now. The system map lists stations at the Burns White Center at 3 Crossings, at 21st Street and Penn Avenue, and at Penn Avenue and 33rd Street. Those three stations cover roughly the same ground as the proposed extension, just a few blocks away from the water.
Why the Strip Segment Matters Beyond the Strip
The Heritage Trail is a 35-mile network of urban and suburban riverfront paths that has been in development since 1991. The city's public works department maintains it with Friends of the Riverfront. NEXTpittsburgh, citing the Friends' 2024 impact study, puts the trail at more than 1.3 million visitors a year and $26.5 million in local economic impact.
A network that size is only as good as its gaps, and the Strip's mile between 24th and 33rd is one of the more visible ones. Kelsey Ripper, executive director of Friends of the Riverfront, said the agreement moves the region "closer to a continuous trail connection through the Strip District, Hazelwood, Duck Hollow, and Carrie Furnace."
The next public milestones to look for are City Council's vote on the transfer and a Surface Transportation Board decision. Those decisions are what will put a date on the missing mile.
We follow how projects like this change daily life along the Allegheny because those changes shape how people experience the Strip. If you have questions about the riverfront blocks or the corridor between 24th and 33rd streets, The Onufer Team is glad to share what we know as the approvals move ahead. Contact Us anytime.
