Politicians, environmentalists, engineers and outdoor enthusiasts gathered Friday to kayak through the C.W. Bill Young Lock and Dam in Harmar Township, a nearly century-old structure on the Allegheny River. Employees with the Pittsburgh District Army Corps of Engineers were on hand to operate the system and answer questions.
“So as you'll see as you go through, our infrastructure is getting a little bit older,” said the deputy chief of the Pittsburgh district’s operations, Greg Turko. “The locks that you're about to go through were built in the ‘30s.
“So we're going on about 95 years in operation.”
The second-largest inland port in the U.S., the Port of Pittsburgh is home to 17 locks and dams along the three major rivers that converge at Pittsburgh. Over the last decade, about 30 million tons of freight passed through the port each year — 70% of which was coal.
But as that industry declines, so does funding that supports maintenance of the infrastructure.
The port’s public relations manager Matthew Pavlosky also pointed out the number of registered recreational boaters in the Pittsburgh region is one of the largest in the United States.
“We take [the river] for granted, but it's one of those things that we need to see improve, and we need to show those in charge how important that is and how that needs funding,” Pavlosky said.
To that end, Friends of the Riverfront, the Port of Pittsburgh Commission, and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission along with other community partners hosted this “lock-through” kayak paddle.
“The economic impact and the quality of life impact of investing in our rivers and our locks and our dams is important,” said SPC’s executive director and former Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. He said the paddling event is an important way to reorient decision makers with often overlooked logistical realities in the region they serve.
Once locked inside the gravity-powered C.W. Bill Young Lock and Dam (also known as Allegheny River's Lock No. 3), Pennsylvania leaders, including Fitzgerald, state representative Mandy Steele, and state senator Lindsey Williams were collectively lowered in their kayaks about 12 feet.
Williams said she has ‘locked-through’ before with the Fish and Boat Commission, “but I've never done it in a kayak!”
Williams, who sits on the Port of Pittsburgh Commission, pointed out the lock hours of operation have been shortened. “Especially with the closing of the Cheswick power plant and the reduction in commercial traffic on the Allegheny River, we want to make sure that we don't lose access so that people up here at the top of Allegheny County can get in their boats or their kayaks and go all the way down into the city, maybe catch a Pirates game or whatever.
“We want that access to continue to be available to everyone.”
“It's kind of a little bucket list day,” said Kate Zidar, a board member with the Three Rivers Waterkeeper. Zidar said she came to experience the lock-through because it sounded like a fun, unique experience and because she wants to promote “swimmable, fishable water. That's what we need.
“If you live on the river and you touch the water, it should never make you sick.”
All told, about 30 staff members from federal, state, and local representatives’ offices, as well as members of local nonprofits and businesses like Three Rivers Outdoor Company (which provided boats, gear and guidance), paddled together downstream to better understand the economic, environmental, and recreational importance of maintaining the locks and dams on the Allegheny River.
