Posts Tagged ‘McKees Rocks’
Bottoms and bridges
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To start – this location has been ‘on my list’ for a while – and despite that, it just hasn’t been convenient (from a time, getting there, atmospheric lighting) point of view for me to get to.
Serendipity recently struck when Our Lady of the Pentacle announced that she and a friend would be attending a pierogi festival held at a Ukrainian Church in the area during a recent Sunday afternoon. Her friend would be driving, so I asked if I could tag along and thereby be free of having to oblige and worry about the car. Positive affirmations followed.
I’ve executed a few drive throughs of this area and have tilted my lens here and there in the past, check past posts out here. Purely scouting, though.
Welcome to McKees Rocks’ Bottoms.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It topically seems to be one of Pennsylvania’s many ‘used to be, once, long ago’ sort of places, old mill towns that persist after the mill has left, but the area seems to be very much alive and kicking. We walked around the neighborhood for a bit, prior to the start of Our Lady’s pierogi extravaganza.
I wasn’t there for the luncheon, at least not the kind you eat. My nutritionally needs could only be sated by walking upon that which I came here to see.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The McKees Rocks Bridge is a major crossing of the Ohio River, and is the longest bridge in Allegheny County. It’s a massive structure.
It carries three lanes of vehicle traffic, which first crosses over a set of busy Norfolk Southern rail tracks and then a gargantuan sewer plant to the north, then the Ohio River, whereupon it overlands into the town after overflying a rail yard on the south side.
When figuring in the ramp approaches to this monster, the bridge is 7,300 feet long. Roughly 1.5 miles, that. 100 feet high at deck level over the river. The stairs pictured above are on the McKees Rocks Bottoms, or southern, side.
Check out all its statistics at pghbridges.com. Additionally, there’s a great document from the HAER (Historic American Engineering Record) people which can be accessed here that will fill you in on all the ‘nitty gritty’ revolving around why and how this monster bridge was erected and funded in Pittsburgh, all the way back in 1929.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The stairs lead up to this arched section, where it overflies the rail yard and tracks. Those CSX trains which I often photograph down river, nearby that brewery, are all heading this way when I describe them as ‘heading towards Ohio.’ The train pictured above, #866, is heading ‘away from Ohio.’
There were no fences, you can just walk right up to the tracks. That’s very progressive, if you ask me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It has been a minor goal of mine to walk this bridge when opportunity struck, but who could have guessed it would be a pierogi festival I wouldn’t be attending that would bring me here?
Up the stairs hurtled I, the filthy black raincoat flapping about in the wind like some obscene membrane. Storms were moving through the vault of the sky, and the dynamic cloud systems surrounding the periodic bursts of rain were causing the light to change minute by minute. I was ready for the rain, just in case, with an umbrella attached to my camera bag, but it wasn’t needed in the end.
Up and at ‘em.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the main arch of the bridge, as seen in the distance. There really isn’t too much worth seeing after exiting the bridge on the other side, which places you on a narrow sidewalk, set against a de facto highway. Not exactly ‘pedestrian friendly’ over there, so I decided that my first walk over this span was going to be a ‘there and back again’ sort of affair.
This was practically a religious experience for me, scuttling over the McKees Rocks Bridge, something which I could only compare to a walk over the Kosciuszcko Bridge back home, as far as offering the camera a unique point of view.
Back tomorrow.
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Potpourri day
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Circumstance and ‘getting things done’ finds me driving all over the City of Pittsburgh on the regular.
As a former New Yorker, one of the things you’ve got to get past here is a long encoded belief that ‘crossing the river’ or ‘rivers’ is kind of a big deal.
If I had to go to New Jersey from Queens, it would be an all day ordeal with the City of Greater New York throwing up random obstacles at every step of the way. In Pittsburgh, you just go.
Picklesburgh was recently offered to Pittsburgh, a resounding success according to all reports. The closest I got to it this year was the shot above, captured through my car’s windshield. It was in the high 90’s that weekend, which isn’t exactly ‘brined food’ weather.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The town of McKees Rocks was also recently transited through, and there was something about this truck parking lot which caught my eye.
Round three of scouting has begun, I should mention, now that I sort of know some of the shape of things out here, and I’ve been noting what I call ‘pregnant locations’ for a while now which I wanted to get a bit more granular with. This section of McKees Rocks is called the ‘Bottoms’ and it’s a visual treat. Kinda crimey, I’m told.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
McKees Rocks has a lousy reputation, which sometimes includes ‘murder capital of Pennsylvania.’ It’s also got a medium busy rail yard with a CSX outpost. There also a rail company based out of here which I also haven’t seen on any of the tracks I’ve been watching. One of the two ‘white whale’ RR’s in Western PA which have so far escaped my camera.
I’ve spent a bit of time over the last few weeks in a quest for ‘points of view,’ and driving from place to place. I’ll spend some time in Google maps the night before, tagging locations via their street view before an ‘explore’ when I visit these spots in the real world.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A particular interest of mine at the moment, there’s a rail trestle over a highway in Carnegie which I’d love some shots of a train crossing, but so far I haven’t figured out how to get close to it. Pictured above is a service road leading to and from a U.S. Mail sorting facility, which dead ended right where Google suggested a route up to the trestle would exist.
Frustrating. Yeah, I know, use a drone.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next door to Dormont, where HQ is located, is the tony suburb of Mt. Lebanon. It’s populated by tree lined streets with expensive homes, mainly, but nearby one of the T stops this massive apartment house and parking garage is seen. It really stands apart.
To the rails…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The scouting work pays off occasionally, and I’ve just found a point of view which looks downwards at Wheeling & Lake Erie’s Rook Street Yard.
There’s nearby parking, and this is definitively a spot you need to drive to. There’s a really cool shot waiting to be captured here, just has to be the ‘right time’ for this ‘right place.’
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Rock Bottom
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There were a few spots on a Google map which I had prepared in advance of this drive through the Borough of McKees Rocks here in Pittsburgh, ones which the search giant’s satellite imagery suggested as being photogenically interesting – possibly. You never know till you go, though.
This was the view from the parking lot of a seemingly empty warehouse which I had turned the car into, during my return from McKees Rocks to Dormont where HQ is located.
I was hoping to see some train action happening along CSX’s tracks, but no luck. It was New Years weekend, after all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Truth be told, I was actually feeling pretty good while shooting these. The ankle wasn’t giving me any trouble, even when I got out of the car and walked around a little bit. There were swampy lowlands alongside the rail yard, pictured above. Must be buggy during the summer around here…
‘Mustn’t over do it’ is one of my catch phrases at the moment, so one reentered the Mobile Oppression Platform and started its motor. Soon, I was positively hurtling through space – at tens of miles per hour – and heading back towards home. It was about a 15-20 minute drive.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is one of the ‘through the roof’ shots which one has been oddly drawn to capture of late. A sort of liminal space, intersections like these are unoccupied, but over the course of the day tens of thousands pass through. I used to describe Queens Plaza the same way.
This is a pretty interesting intersection, designed under the tutelage of Robert Moses himself. You’ve got the Liberty Tunnel to the left, which is a primary arterial leading away from downtown Pittsburgh and towards the South Hills with the ‘tube’ having been cut right through Mount Washington. This intersection feeds onto a secondary arterial road called West Liberty Avenue (to the right), after crossing a primary arterial called Saw Mill Run (PA Route 51) first. Additionally, there are light rail tracks weaving about, and there’s also freight tracks which are carried on a highflying rail bridge over the vehicular traffic. Neat, huh?
Back tomorrow with something different at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Rocks rock
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
McKees Rocks, and the Borough’s circumstance, was discussed at some length in yesterday’s post so rather than repeat all of it I’d ask you to just scroll back to that one as an introduction to the place these photos were gathered. Suffice to say that this particular section of McKees Rocks, called the Bottoms, is largely an industrial zone with a smattering of centuried homes and a collection of rather interesting looking churches. I was just driving around the industrial zone slowly, seeing what’s what and where that might be found. Scouting, basically.
The big player down here, other than a CSX intermodal yard, is a company which manufactures rail cars and rail ‘stuff’ called ‘Standard Forge Products.’ Venture Capital money is flowing through this economic sector right now, seeking to consolidate all the remaining national players in the space into a single conglomerate.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These shots were gathered on New Year’s weekend, if you’re curious as to why the place was so thoroughly deserted. I’m planning on a few return trips here when the place is buzzing during the work week. I’d also like to get a good look inside some of the intriguing Slavic churches that I spotted on the way in here.
Of course, given all of those terrifying statistics about McKees Rocks, maybe I’ll convince somebody to come along with me to watch my back. Saying all that, there is an interesting discussion thread at Reddit which gathers observations from locals about the place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, a Google map of points of potential interest was created prior to the drive over here. I had several things way-pointed, and mostly stayed sitting behind the driver’s wheel while shooting. I got out of the car a few times, of course, but this was mainly a ride rather than a walk.
Walking a distance is still a somewhat elusive goal for me in this post broken ankle recovery period. The other night I managed to scuttle about 1,500 feet, and then I needed to sit down. It hurt for two days. It wasn’t pain from the ankle that was biting, although there was some (it’s omnipresent), rather it was soreness from the atrophy of muscles in the upper thighs, no doubt caused by me sitting in a wheelchair for two months.
Back next week with more, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Bottoms up
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
McKees Rocks is a borough municipality pretty close to the center of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and it’s found alongside the Ohio River and to the west of Downtown Pittsburgh and all the sportsball stadiums. It’s a fairly dangerous place, I’m told, and according to the official statistics you’ve got a 1 in 61 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime hereabouts. In the rest of Pennsylvania that chance is 1 in 357 (which includes… Philadelphia…). McKees Rocks is considered to be safer than just 1% of all U.S. cities, and the violent crime rate here is 16.47%.
The people who live here are stressed economically. McKees Rocks’ has a high real estate vacancy rate of nearly 20%, despite the average rental unit going for about $1,200 a month, and there are a surprising number of its residents who are living alone – nearly 61%. Average per capita income here is lower than in 99.6% of the country, let alone the local Pittsburgh region. 2/3’s of the kids who grow up here will do so in dire poverty.
There is a higher rate of childhood poverty in McKees Rocks than in 98% of all communities in these United States. 7.1% of the population in McKees Rocks speaks Polish exclusively at home, with 88.5% of them speaking English, and there’s a concentrated population of Slavs (Yugoslav and Polish) here. There’s also quite a few Spanish speakers, a growing population of South East Asians hailing from the subcontinent of India, and a sizable African American contingent that resides here as well. Add in the standard northeastern mix of immigrant descendants – Irish, Italians, German, etc. and you’ve got the recipe.
I’ve been meaning to take a ride through here for a while. Sounds like my kind of place. Dire, industrial, dangerous…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the McKees Rocks bridge, spanning a series of rail tracks, pictured above. It’s the longest span offered by a bridge in Allegheny County, at 7,293 feet and the thing was built in 1931. It overflies the Ohio River, and is currently receiving a good amount of maintenance by road crews. The tracks are CSX’s, which they share with the Pittsburgh and Ohio Central Railroad (one of the railroad ‘white whales’ which I haven’t seen or photographed yet). A lot of that CSX traffic, which I often photograph along the Monongahela River at that brewery I like, originates here.
This section of McKees Rocks is called ‘The Bottoms.’ Historically speaking, this area was about iron and steel and manufacturing locomotives – engines, cars, that whole deal. They’re still doing that here, I’d mention, but on a far smaller scale than formerly. There’s a highly desecrated but notable Native American burial mound nearby, but it’s inaccessible and on private property, and is protected by antiquities law.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nearby, found on the Ohio River, is a landform called ‘Neville Island.’ I’ve taken a few looks at the place, but it’s definitely something I want to get all granular about in the future. Lots of heavy industry and rail infrastructure on that island. Fascinating place.
As a note: I’m not doing a tour of Pittsburgh’s most challenged neighborhoods currently. You might think so after a few posts from Hazelwood last week, and now a visit to the McKees Rocks Bottoms. Instead, since I’m stuck with taking the car with me everywhere right now due to the ankle recovery deal, I’m trying to hit some areas a little bit further away than I can walk to and others where walking about might incur unexpected consequences.
Back tomorrow with more, at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 