Posts Tagged ‘Ohio River’
Pelagus Exhaurire
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with a fun walk, recently undertaken, on the McKees Rock Bridge. This series of shots are from the section of the bridge that overflies the Ohio River, which returns to solid ground on the very steep ‘north side’ of the Ohio, here in Pittsburgh.
That’s where you’ll notice a gaggle of gear, and a huge industrial plant.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, aka ‘Alcosan,’ operates this massive sewer plant. According to some very topical research on the facility, it opened in 1959 and processes wastewater from some 83 separate communities. The plant’s campus is some 59 acres in size, and the agency states that it processes some 250 million gallons of ‘honey’ a day. Sewer professionals (at least the ones back in NYC) call it ‘honey,’ as a note. They also hate the term ‘sewer plant’ and prefer ‘wastewater treatment.’ Saying that, the people back in NYC’s DEP were kind of divas and also overtly political animals.
Neat.
As long time readers will tell you – your humble narrator is fascinated by these sorts of systems.
This post provides a bit of an overview of the sewer plant in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint, and this one visits the Manhattan Pump House on E. 13th street and Avenue D. CSO’s, storm sewers… grab a beer and let’s chat. There’s dozens of posts discussing the subject here. Click around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The McKees Rocks Bridge just continued on and on. The pedestrian walkway circles around the masonry anchor pier, which allowed a small notch for me to stand in and get the shot above of the two arches supporting the roadway in this section.
Me? I was drawn – inexorably – towards getting a better view of the ‘Alcosan North Side Plant.’ I’ve been looking around for the ‘official name’ of the facility, but have seen at least three variants so I’m running with ‘Alcosan North Side’ until someone tells me differently. In accordance with my complaint about the presumption of knowing ‘Pittsburgh Vernacular,’ I’m figuring that ‘everybody from here knows what it’s called, so why put that on the website or mention it anywhere else.’
Vernacular also figures into my growing frustrations when there’s some social event, described as going on ‘after lunch’ at ‘Joe’s Garage’ in ‘Lawrenceville or something.’ Street addresses, yo. Not all of us are from here. In fact, I’d say at least 20% of the city are out of town college students, but there you are.
As a point of fact, the sewer plant’s street address is ‘3300 Preble Avenue.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Settling tanks! They’ve got aerated settling tanks! Last time I was up close to a set of these, it was with Ned The Nose in 2012.
This is one of the first steps which sewage takes after entering a plant.
Aeration equipment at the bottom of the tanks, which can be 20-30 feet deep, pump air bubbles up through the liquid. The liquid becomes so highly aerated that buoyancy cancels out and solids drop to the bottom of the tank for collection. The water is drained off, and the left behind solids are gathered for disposal in a sanitary landfill.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The large round dealies in the shot above are skimmer tanks, which harvest surface level grease and cooking oils as well as ‘floatables’ from the flow.
Ahhh. It’s nice, this, like returning home for Christmas.
While researching this post, I discovered that Alcosan does an annual Open House day in September. Count on the fact that I’ll be there next year, presuming they allow photographers to photograph.
Man… there’s this Hindu temple in Monroeville that needs to be seen to be believed, but they specifically forbid photography there… so there’s no point to the endeavor of a visit.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cannot begin to describe how happy this sewer plant made me. All of the trouble and pain from the last year, and here I am – standing on top of a bridge and taking pics of a sewer plant. This is the sort of stuff I dream about.
There is a Santa Claus, here in the murder capital of Pennsylvania.
Back next week with just a bit more from the McKees Rocks Bridge.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Caelum ad siphona ambulans
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with a walk over the gargantuan McKees Rocks Bridge, in today’s post. As mentioned previously, everytime I’ve driven over this bridge during the last three years, it’s has been paramount in my mind that ‘I’ve got to take a walk over that thing sometime.’ The views from up here are spectacular.
In many ways, this set of views from up here are from ‘the Pittsburgh I’ve been looking for.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Ohio River waterfront is largely industrial. There’s rail tracks set in and amongst all of the structures, and some of the buildings were of a type whose purpose I couldn’t necessarily identify. Fascinating. This one is from high over the McKees Rocks shoreline side. Looks like it might be a chemical storage facility, down there, maybe.
At first I thought concrete, but there aren’t giant piles of sand and gravel anywhere in sight. The cylindrical tanks are fairly clean in appearance as well. Concrete is messy. I’ll find out eventually, as I’m definitely going to be coming back up here again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one looks back at the ‘Bottoms’ neighborhood of McKees Rocks. See what I mean about ‘the murder capital of Pennsylvania’? Place is neat as a pin. That isn’t what a dangerous neighborhood looks like. Economic distress I’ll buy, but dangerous? All of my ‘tells’ are absent – late model vehicles in various states of repair sitting in front yards, alongside clutter and uncollected garbage, groups of feral teenagers, abandoned homes, all of that sort of stuff.
It’s a grid based street pattern here, which is sort of rare for Pittsburgh, and most of what I was observing from above were either multiple family residential buildings, of at most three to four stories, which were surrounded by a predominance of single family homes.
Hardly anyone was out and about, but it was late on a Sunday morning when I was there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A bit of advice I can offer at this stage of the game, gleaned by my small experience, is to not lean on bridge fences in the State of Pennsylvania if you don’t have to.
This fencing was solid, mind you, but my advice remains the same. It’s about a 100 foot drop from this spot, on the pedestrian walkway. My understanding of why PA. seldom omits a walking option for its bridges boils down to the presence of significant populations of religious atavists – Mennonites, Amish, etc. – who pay their taxes but don’t drive cars. Fair is fair.
The weather was dynamic, with a lot of movement in the skies. Bolts of sunlight would suddenly peek through, disappearing when another round of moisture shot through. From up on the bridge, you could see various distant sections of Pittsburgh getting rained on.
I remained dry, since I had carried an umbrella with me, and the perverse humor that the universe enjoys at my expense played out as I didn’t have to use the thing once. If I didn’t have an umbrella, it would have been ‘pissing down.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve walked the waterfront trail surrounding that disused penitentiary before. Check out this May of 2025 post for that, or this one from 2024. My understanding of things is that this POV is set to change fairly soon with a big mixed use real estate development that’s meant to start up nearby the confluence point of the three rivers. That’s supposed to bring a giant Ferris Wheel to the party, and demolish the former prison.
This is the moment when I realized what was directly in front of me. Nepenthe.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A sewer plant… it’s a sewer plant. I’ve missed having a sewer plant to point the lens at. Love me a sewer plant, I do.
You can take the boy away from Newtown Creek, but you can’t actually change the fella or what he loves. Sewers!
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.
Bottoms to tops
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing today, with an introductory walk over the gargantuan McKees Rocks Bridge. The steel arch pictured above carries vehicular traffic, over a set of local streets and a rail yard, with the main span and arches of the bridge being found nearly a mile away at the crossing over the Ohio River. This is a major, NYC sized, bridge.
As described yesterday, I hitched a ride with Our Lady of the Pentacle and her friend Julie, who were going to be attending a pierogi festival at church here in McKees Rocks. They attended the feast, whereas I had a different sort of feast in mind.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A long zoom shot of the rail yard, looking westerly, with out of focus fencing as a bonus. CSX has offices and other facilities thereabouts. There’s a rail industry company based here, one which manufactures the ‘trucks’ or wheels of rail cargo cars. There’s also all sorts of shipping businesses which are tangentially connected to the rail yard.
There’s supermarkets and strip clubs in McKees Rocks, it’s a regular community once you cross the bridge into ‘the town.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The pedestrian walkway of the bridge brings you back down to ground before ramping back up to the main section of the bridge. This was pretty good cardio, incidentally, a long and gentle slope that plays out over about forty vertical feet. Got my pump pumping.
High fencing only occludes the views from this bridge for short intervals, notably where it overflies rail tracks. There are multiple rights of way which the bridge passes over. The high fencing is of the ‘post 911’ type whose chain link squares are only about a half inch across and are ruinous for photographic pursuits.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Up on the proper bridge, and heading towards the main arches of the thing. My plan for the day was to walk fairly close to other side of the thing, and then double back. I had about two hours to myself, and used every minute of it before I had to return and meet up with Our Lady and her friend for a ride back to HQ
I got busy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the ‘bottoms’ neighborhood of McKees Rocks. One of those churches was where the pierogi event was occurring. The dynamics of the sky were a constant challenge, as far as exposure and light.
As mentioned in the past, McKees Rocks has a terrible reputation, including ‘murder capital of Pennsylvania.’ To my eyes, it reminded me a great deal of the 1980’s and quite Irish version of Rockaway I used to be familiar with, or of Brooklyn’s Gerritsen Beach area. An insular community of long held property owners in a somewhat distressed area, doing what they can with what they’ve got.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Me? I was heading towards the crown of the bridge, where the double arches span the Ohio River.
More on all that 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.
Overlook! Now, more than ever!
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, I was kicking dirt at the West End Elliot Overlook park while waiting for Our Lady of the Pentacle to return home from a trip abroad. Passing time until the summons to pick her up at the airport, one set up the camera and the tripod, and I was soon perpetrating some low light photography – something which hasn’t been practiced in a while.
I still had my ‘daylight Zoom lens’ on the camera, even though conditions didn’t favor it. A bit of motion blur began to manifest, but there you are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was plenty of stuff to keep me busy while Our Lady was traveling. Primarily, care and attention for Moe the Dog, but I was also developing a few hundred photos and doing several other digital tasks in the home office which I have set up in the basement of HQ. Beyond that, the necessities of life were obliged – the cooking and cleaning, life stuff.
This evening was my first release from the domestic and canine maintenance schedule in about a week, and it felt great to be outside shooting. It was made sweeter by the imminent return of Our Lady to Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, I switched out the daylight zoom lens for a lowlight 85mm f2 prime, a device which is a much more apt tool for the job.
The wider aperture also allows for faster shutter speeds, which eliminates most of the motion blur.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m planning out a winter time project which will all be ‘night stuff,’ as it’s a lot easier to pull off during the winter months due to the intransigence of the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself’s presence in the celestial vault during the winter season. Doesn’t get light out until relatively late in the mornings, and it’s getting dark by 5-6 p.m. Add in some rain, and you’ve got noir dripping all over the joint.
On it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My time here was growing short, and it wouldn’t be long before the text arrived from Our Lady that her plane had landed. It would be about a twenty or so minute drive to get to the airport, and then an indeterminate period defined by however long it took her to get through customs. Luckily, this ain’t JFK, so she was out toot sweet.
There are just so many things which I don’t miss about NYC.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last shot gathered was of a vessel in the Gateway Clipper’s tourist boat fleet, which features a massive catering hall – built onto a barge – that’s permanently attached to an old tugboat.
The text message finally chimed in, and then I hurtled through the darkness to the airport to retrieve Our Lady. Moe the Dog was absolutely apoplectic when his favorite person returned home. Me too.
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.
Kicking dirt at West End Elliot Overlook
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After an interminable interval, Our Lady of the Pentacle had finally boarded a flight, from the UK, and was on her way back home via the Pittsburgh International AirPort.
Me? I had time to kill while anxiously waiting to pick her up from that facility, and had positioned myself in a photogenic spot to pass the time until that joyous moment when a text arrived saying ‘I’ve landed.’
I picked the West End Elliot Overlook Park to go kick dirt, partially because it’s about a five minute drive to a highway onramp which would then send me hurtling in the direction of Our Lady in the automobile.
About a 25 minute drive at this time of day, more or less, from this spot to the airport. Perfect.
The tripod was set up, my lens cleaned of dust, and I got busy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This little outing of mine occurred just before sunset, and the Overlook is a great place to shoot ‘urban landscape’ for both sunrise and sunset. A city park, there’s a parking lot with a port-a-potty installed in it, and there’s always some people there. Some picnic people were observed, a few pot smokers, others sipping hooch from a bottle hidden in a paper bag. Lots of dog walkers, too. Nice quiet and cool spot, this.
There was maritime traffic down on the ‘Mon,’ with a Towboat towing an enormous raft of what looked like twenty empty barges under the Fort Pitt Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Ronald D. Koontz Towboat. Marinetraffic.com offers this page about the vessel, which hides what you’d like to see behind a paywall that renders the formerly great functionality of their site moot. Cory Doctorow has coined the term ‘enshittification’ to describe what’s going on with the internet these days, and I’m in agreement.
The future has turned out to really suck, hasn’t it?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself’s emanations faded, I was keeping myself busy. Panoramas, long exposures, the whole quiver.
If you’d like to see a full sized version of the panorama image above, click here for its Flickr page and zoom in. Go to town. Carnival!
The two bridges in the shot are the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River on the left, and the Fort Pitt Bridge over the Monongahela River on the right.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I kept checking my phone for the anxiously awaited text that Our Lady had landed at the airport. In the meantime, I kept shooting.
It’s been a long time since I did any ‘night stuff.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s West End Bridge over the Ohio River, which is frequently mentioned here. I’ll often walk over that span on one of my scuttles, after taking the T light Rail to Pittsburgh’s North Side from HQ.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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 