Posts Tagged ‘Monongahela River’
Eliza Trail behind, Flats in front
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After leaving the Eliza Furnace trail on the north shore of the Monongahela River, one then crossed the waterway, via the South Tenth Street Bridge, and your humble narrator had but one goal in mind.
Beer and trains.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a short walk, but the path passes by a largish number of residential structures and clinics – many of which are involved in the charitable work of housing vagrants, while others are a part of the ‘medical/insurance industrial complex’ whose profits arise from addiction recovery services.
As is usually the case with such areas, a population of folks ‘living rough’ and ‘not in the program’ can be observed nearby. As such, this is one of the parts of Pittsburgh where you want to observe ‘NYC rules.’
Be aware of surroundings, spin around on your heel periodically to see if you’re being followed, don’t allow yourself to be ‘cul-de-sac’d’ on a dead end street, have your headphones not in your ears. I’m not saying it’s dangerous here, it’s really not, I’m just saying it makes sense to have ‘the radar’ turned on when armies of junkies are wandering around.
Maintaining a bit of paranoia is a life skill, for one such as myself.
That’s a particularly spectacular Ukrainian Church, pictured above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One slapped his feet against the pavement, on Pittsburgh’s Carson Street, which is the ‘via majorica’ of this section of the city.
Mixed use zoning here, including a set of particularly ancient residential structures, and punctuated by the occasional shop or storefront. Most of the commercial addresses seem shuttered, consequential of some long ago urban planner’s decision to turn the ‘local’ Carson Street into a primary arterial roadway, one whose design involves getting drivers through the area at a maximum rate of speed while they’re heading towards several nearby bridges and tunnels which lead to satellite communities.
People earn their money in the city, thereby, and then drive away to a distant suburb to spend it. It’s obvious what the problem is here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My case study for this particular POV remains the Cross Bronx Expressway – and the Long Island Expressway which I know more about – both of which turned into multiple mile long engines of blight generation for NYC, back in the 1960’s and 70’s.
A big part of making it absolutely hellish to drive into Manhattan in modernity, and forcing people to commute by transit instead, is to encourage the populace to drop some of their coin in the central business district. Ever wonder why the real estate types love congestion pricing and bike lanes so much?
The ‘planners’ look down upon our world like it’s a flat paper map, spread out on a mahogany desk in some City Hall office.
They don’t see groups of bored kids, or dog walkers, or imagine any of the small stuff in their plans – like a candy store, found on a corner. In fact, a candy store is usually in the way of what they want to do or have been told to want by the bosses. From an urban planner’s POV, a Trader Joe’s or a Target are much more laudable ‘anchor’ tenants for a project than some nickel and dime locally owned neighborhood candy store.
Growth, it needs to be organic and considered or it becomes cancerous. Oh, the urbanity of it all!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The local Government, here in Pittsburgh, is currently floating a particularly short sighted policy scheme – creating a new tax regime for an area that is successfully growing itself, and then using that tax money to prop up an area that is dying on the vine.
In the case of Pittsburgh, this conceit is dubbed as being a TRID, and the current political regime wishes to direct the tax moneys generated by a successful development environment in one neighborhood (The Strip District) to buoy up the commercial and office sectors of the Downtown area nearby its transit hubs – a program which would play out over a forty year period.
Forty years…
I’d like to point out – as a point of reference – that Ronald Reagan was President some forty years ago – and that multi generational financial schemes such as this seldom work out well or ‘trickle down’ for the tax paying citizens who haven’t actually been born yet.
Gen X here, and I’ve watched this sort of political handout to the past which shortchanges the future before. Savings and Loan crisis, anyone? No bueno.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bah!
Luckily, I arrived at that brewery by the train tracks just in time.
Inspected the porcelain, ordered a pint, and took up station at the outdoor seating, just as CSX #1897 arrived at the pass.
More on all that tomorrow, which will be a ‘Hey Now!palooza.’
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“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.
Say goodbye to Aunt Eliza
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having scuttled upon the Eliza Furnace Trail on the northern shore of the Monongahela River, your humble narrator reached the spot where he’d break off the trail and reenter the street grid (as it were) so as to cross the water and get over to the southern shore.
My plan was to cross the river via the South Tenth Street Bridge.
The section of the rail trail before me is referred to colloquially as ‘The Jail Trail,’ as it passes directly past the city’s jail, which is also right next door to an enormous homeless shelter. No bueno.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A Towboat was spotted, towing a few barges under the Birmingham Bridge, but it was pretty far away and I can’t tell you much about it. Luckily, zoom lens.
I cut across a parking lot to get to where I needed to be.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This sidewalk led to an intersection with the South Tenth Street Bridge, and coincidentally – the bridge’s intersection with the Armstrong Tunnel.
My goodness, it’s almost as if there’s a method behind all the madness.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator was experiencing a bit of a lull in his energy levels. It had been a nice day climate wise, but the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself had been bobbing about in the sky, and the Eliza Trail offers little or any shade, so I was feeling a bit warm and fatigued.
Sol Invictus indeed.
Ebb and flow. Time for a quick break.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back at where I’d been, in that nest of ramps feeding to and from the Birmingham Bridge.
Luckily, a shady spot awaited me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Other than a plague of Spotted Lanternfiles who seemed to be reproducing as I watched, this little shady spot gave me a minute to unload the camera bag off of my back, and slurp down some of the water I had been carrying with me in that Nalgene water bottle so recently added to the kit.
I hate the weight of carrying water, yet enjoy its recuperative property. It’s a dichotomy, but I’m just like the kiwi – a fuzzy little fruit with a lot of personality. Man, I do miss having a Bodega on every corner…
Back tomorrow.
“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.
Crossing, Mon
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured is a narrow band of relative safety one occupied to the right of that white line, which the trail I had been walking upon spit me out onto.
Luckily, it was a fairly low traffic day, when I suddenly had to try and not die while scuttling along this stretch. At the end of the elevated ramp, I was able to execute what can currently pass as ‘running,’ to get to the other side of the street where a sidewalk existed. The busted ankle situation persists in terms of not being able to run properly.
Effin Pittsburgh…
Y’know, people out here, they’ll get after me here for cussin. I don’t know how you don’t curse a blue streak when encountering this… it’s exactly the sort of thing which makes me want to engage with the ‘powers that be.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Safely on a sidewalk, my next set of moves involved getting back to HQ in Dormont. My original plan was to simply walk to the Station Square stop for the T light rail system, which is found a mile or two down the road.
Saying that, it was really hot out, and I decided to ‘punk.’
I’d save a bunch of walking, and cross the river via the Fort Pitt bridge, then catch a T ride at one of the downtown stations instead. Win!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Fort Pitt Bridge is a complicated beast, and especially so when one is driving southwards. A series of high speed roads converge via multiple on-ramps to the bridge, which all resolve into singular travel lanes.
To head to the airport, for instance, you need to exit the span via a portal on the far left side of the bridge. To exit to local streets or head west, you need to bear over to the far right. This creates an ‘X’ shaped interchange for high speed traffic that is converging from three distinct sources.
Factor in the aggressive style of driving common to most in Pittsburgh, and you’ve got a nonstop traffic jam which plays out 24/7 – as drivers cross multiple lanes of traffic to position themselves for those two exits from the span. The aggressive driving figures in to this as they all try to ‘eff each over to get into their desired lanes, which they all try to do immediately upon entering the span. Not fifty or a hundred feet ahead, where it’s easy… no… not the Yinzers. They need to get into their lane right ‘effin now, lest somebody take something away from them.
Of course, they’ll ALL try to do the complicated merge asap and at speed, rather than just slowing down and traveling another fifty feet to… bah…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I enjoy walking over this bridge, but then again I famously like horrible things. As mentioned at the start of this scuttle, which began up on Mount Washington and included the Emerald View Trail which provided a diagonal westward path down off of the landform, and it was quite uncomfortable out – climate wise.
High summer, humid, ‘shvitzy.’
One way or the other, however, I had to get to the T light rail as it sure wasn’t going to be coming to me, and thusly ‘leaned into it’ for the last leg of this one. At least it was in the shade…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the described point of conflict on the Fort Pitt Bridge.
In the shot above, the far right ramp feeds two lanes off of traffic off of the I-376 ‘Parkway West’ and onto Fort Pitt, whereas the left hand side services entrances for both local street traffic and is also fed by another highway ramp which brings high speed traffic from multiple sources right towards this spot.
A significant volume of traffic passes through this pass (estimated at 85 – 107,000 vehicles a day), and I’ve come to refer to Fort Pitt Bridge as being the ‘master cylinder’ of all traffic in Pittsburgh. Something happens here, or on the ramps leading to it, and that ripples outwards at 60 mph to the entire network of high speed roads hereabouts.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, one made it to the so called ‘Golden Triangle,’ and a few quick steps soon saw your humble narrator on a T light rail, heading back to HQ and the ebullient greetings of Moe the Dog.
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.
CSX Trains and Hey Now! Vibes
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few shots from the end of a short but cool walk in Pittsburgh, and pictured above is the ‘Uptown’ or ‘The Bluff’ zone along the Monongahela River. Picture’s POV is from the pedestrian walkways of the South Tenth Street Bridge.
I decided to head over to the brewery nearby the CSX tracks that I frequent, in the ‘South Side Flats’ section. Hadn’t had a drink in a couple of weeks, and a cold beer sounded fantastic.
About 15 minutes worth of scuttling, and I arrived. Headed inside, inspected the porcelain, purchased my drink, headed for the door leading to the outdoor seating… and just as I was walking outside…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now!
CSX #1852, all spiffed up with a July 4th paint job, hurtled through the pass. Funnily enough, the night before this was shot, I had been chatting with a railfan buddy of mine back in NYC, saying ‘I really don’t care about all that July 4 stuff they’re doing, if I were to get a shot or not, I don’t care.’ I also extended that statement to cover the Union Pacific ‘Big Boy’ event too. Pfft.
Of course, I got shots of everything, including Big Boy, which will be published fairly soon. Newtown Pentacle Time Warp reminder again, I’m way ahead of the schedule here – for once. This post is being written during the second week of July, for instance.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now!
CSX #7505 came through next, heading westerly just like 1852 was. Empty mineral cars behind it.
Finished that first beer right about here, went inside and received a reload. Headed back out to where I was sitting, and…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now!
Oddly enough, the sequentially numbered ‘next’ train coming through was CSX #7506, heading easterly.
Finished my second beer, and then paid my tab. Began getting ready to head for the T light rail, and catch a ride back to HQ.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now!
CSX #3610 was the next one through, which I captured from an elevation. This is from pretty much directly over the spot that I normally shoot from, below at ground level. The train? Heading easterly.
Short walk, and a pretty cool day for a humble narrator.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I keep on saying it to myself – ‘everytime you leave the house with the camera it doesn’t have to be a marathon, icehole.’
Just out of curiosity – if you’re having a mental chat with yourself, talking out loud to that person in the bathroom mirror for instance, how do you address the part of yourself you’re trying to speak to?
Hey ‘Jerkwater,’ ‘Sir,’ ‘youse,’ or do you talk to yourself formally, with a ‘Mister’ or ‘Frau’? I’ll usually unleash a chord of blue language at my doppelgänger, but that’s ok as luckily the other guy – the one in the mirror – finds my invective as funny as I do.
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.
A Day in Pittsburgh: Eagles, Bridges, and Lectures
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator was on his way to attend another lecture when these shots were gathered. This time around, the talk would focus in on and discuss a family of Bald Eagles which had been nesting at U.S. Steel’s Irvine Mill, which is in the broader Pittsburgh ‘metro.’
It was a fiendishly hot day, but I took the opportunity to kick my feet around a bit, before the lecture started.
I’ve been attending lots of presentations, lectures, and talks recently. There’s a plethora of such opportunity here in Pittsburgh, mostly either free or ‘nearly’ free. Free and educational? I’m in!
My short walk to the event carried me over the Monongahela River, via the ‘Hot Metal Bridge.’
Also, for this latest batch of posts, I’ve used WordPress’ AI to generate the titles. Normally, it’s just ‘whatever’ up there, figured I’d give this a try.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A former rail bridge that connected the two sides of a steel operation called ‘J and L Steel,’ this span has been converted over to modern use. Above there’s a pedestrian/bike only path, and below is a roadway carrying a not insignificant amount of vehicle traffic.
The lecture I was heading towards would be presented at a hotel which is part of a ‘tech incubator’ area, created on part of the old steel mill’s campus, which is populated by grad students from the big universities and corporatists from every technology company that you could name hoping to catch the ‘bleeding edge’ of technology.
I was early, as is always the case.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the distance, the Birmingham Bridge, and a Towboat navigating down the Monongahela River in a southeasterly direction. Your humble narrator was playing around with a new addition to the camera bag on this scuttle, a circular polarizer filter.
The filter ‘straightens out’ light, reduces refraction, and introduces some control over reflectivity. Gives me another opportunity to overly complicate things, as well, so win.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Using my old math, pieced together back on NY Harbor, each one of those seven barges carries the equivalent cargo of around thirty heavy trucks. If you need to move a whole lot of something heavy, best way to do so in terms of ‘spending fuel’ is by water transportation.
I do miss the smell of salt water, as a note.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ‘Winnie C’ is the Towboat pictured above, and I know little to nothing about the boat other than that I see it fairly often. Presumptively, that black mineral in the barges is coal, but unless you know for sure…
The lecture itself that I would be attending was presented by a former Manager for the Irvine plant, a fellow for whom the care of these eagles nesting on the USS property became a personal project. We were told about the various governmental agencies, Federal and State, which oversaw the nest and helped the company and its employees care for the critters. I should mention, it’s not uncommon to see eagles hereabouts.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the end of the lecture, he handed out little squishy foam bald eagle toys. I gave mine to Our Lady of the Pentacle when I returned to HQ. She enjoyed it far more than I thought she would.
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.
