The Brilliant Branch Rail-to-Trail was big news back in 2017

In honor of NEXTpittsburgh’s 10-year anniversary, we’re looking back on our top stories of the last decade and sharing them again to show how much has changed (and stayed the same) over the years. This post was originally published on July 17, 2017.

Check out the update on this project.

Imagine riding your bike across the Allegheny River on an old railroad bridge landscaped with wildflowers and shrubs and dotted with art installations. The bridge connects you to separate trails running through Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods, but it also invites you to linger high above the water on walkways overlooking Downtown.

Might this dream become a reality?

The city’s proposed “GAP to the Point” bike path is still under review and an updated Bike Plan for Pittsburgh will debut this fall, but D.J. Bryant, a designer at AE7 Planners and Architects, proposes an ambitious new idea — the Brilliant Branch Rail-to-Trail — that would increase connectivity and access to safe, affordable transportation options for several communities in the city. After all, of the 1,298 miles of streets in Pittsburgh, there are only 40 miles of on-street bike infrastructure and 31.2 miles of off-street trails.

The timing could be just right for a project like this. With links to the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) and the U.S. Bicycle Route 50 underway, Pittsburgh is attracting some of the $71.3 billion dollars that bicycle tourism contributes to the U.S. economy annually, according to a 2012 study by the U.S. Outdoor Industry Association.

In 2023, the Brilliant Railroad Bridge was acquired through a partnership between the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County, Allegheny RiverTrail Park and Allegheny Valley Railroad.

Bill Strome, chair of the Allegheny RiverTrail Park board of directors, hopes the bridge is open in 2025.

While many look at Pittsburgh’s aging and abandoned infrastructure with nostalgia or disdain, Bryant sees untapped opportunity. He has drawn up a compelling plan for the defunct Brilliant Branch railroad extending from Aspinwall to East Liberty to spark a conversation about how to draw on the region’s rich heritage to meet the needs of the 21^st -century city. We caught up with him to get some details on what he envisions.

Are you a bicyclist?

I am, yes. That is how I commute to and from work every day. I’m lucky because a majority of my route to work is on protected trails. I live in the Mexican War Streets, so I bike through Allegheny Commons Park, down by the stadiums to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, up to the 31st Street Bridge and to my office in the Strip District. I typically log about 24 miles per week biking to and from work.

How did you get the idea for the Brilliant Branch Rail-to-Trail? 

I moved to Pittsburgh from Atlanta, Georgia, which had a big influence on this idea. My apartment in Atlanta was directly adjacent to the Beltline, a former branch line railroad that was converted into a pedestrian trail. The project is similar to the High Line in New York City, but instead of being a linear park, the Beltline is a 22-mile loop that links together all of the city’s parks. The City of Atlanta struggled for quite some time about what to do with the defunct Beltline railroad corridor after the collapse of the railroad industry in the 1970s. Today, the Beltline trail has been a major boon for the city. I don’t think anyone fully realized just how much Atlanta would fall in love with such an amenity. I used to commute along the Beltline and it was sometimes a little precarious dodging around all of the joggers, bikers and dog walkers.

I recently found out about the Brilliant Branch Bridge by accident while I was engaged in a master planning process for an adjacent project. After speaking with neighbors in the area, we found out that the bridge was largely unused by the railroad. It seems like too great an amenity to let rot away. My mentor, Jim O’Toole, kept saying, ‘You should look into this; you should make this your project.’ I approached my boss at work with the idea and he graciously allowed me to conduct an envisioning study for the project.

What is the Brilliant Branch and how do you think it might compare to the Beltline and the High Line?

In 1904, the Allegheny Valley Railroad (AVRR) built the Brilliant Branch line so that freight trains could bypass the passenger train traffic coming in and out of Downtown Pittsburgh. The branch line stretches from Aspinwall, in the north, to Bakery Square and Homewood, in the south, where it connects to the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia mainline. The line has been out of use since the Azcon Metals scrapyard on the outskirts of Aspinwall ceased functions around 2010.

On paper, our proposal is really quite simple. We propose filling in the gaps along the Allegheny River Trail network, connecting Downtown Pittsburgh to Aspinwall (on both sides of the river), converting the Brilliant Branch Bridge into a pedestrian bridge for cyclists and pedestrians and extending the trail down the Brilliant Branch railroad into East Liberty. The Brilliant Branch Bridge would connect the trails to each other and bring a protected bike path through Homewood, Larimer, East Liberty, Highland Park, Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar, Aspinwall, Sharpsburg, Etna, Millvale and Lawrenceville, using infrastructure that’s already there.

This expanded trail network would not only improve connectivity between these communities, it would give cyclists protected routes with little vehicular interaction and improved safety for bicyclists. It would also help to bolster and accentuate much of the investment that has occurred in and around Bakery Square as well as offer these communities alternative modes of transportation and access.

I’ve always wondered about the overgrown train tracks running high above Washington Boulevard. What do you propose, exactly? Your renderings show the Brilliant Branch Bridge becoming a spectacle that could be quite a draw.

We conducted this study to begin a dialogue about how Pittsburgh can begin to reconsider its relationship to the rivers, the industrial past and the city’s changing transportation needs. We hope this study catalyzes further discussions and design proposals.

We really wanted to celebrate the Brilliant Branch Bridge in our design and call attention to its historical significance — not only is it a compelling industrial structure, but it is also a great example of early-20^th-century bridge construction. In our proposal the bridge is utilized as an elevated park that spans the Allegheny River.

Because the bridge was designed for two tracks, there’s plenty of space up there. We propose landscaping the bridge with native plant species, and even allowing the plants to tell part of the industrial history of Pittsburgh [by using species that reflect the changes in the region’s ecosystem brought on by industrial development]. We wanted to incorporate some art installations as well. In the first bay of the bridge we suggested a metal sculpture suspended above the walkway that would pay homage to the metalwork that used to occur here in Pittsburgh. In the second bay we proposed reclaiming two flatbed railroad cars and creating grandstand areas that you can sit in and look over the water. In the final bay we proposed low planter beds with vines that would eventually grow to cover a section of the bridge.

You talk about connectivity—there have been several studies on light rail expansion and plans for busways in these areas that are threatened by possible budget cuts. How much did all of these regional plans influence your thinking about the bridge?

At the time we drew up these plans, we didn’t know about the previous studies of expanding the T northbound into Aspinwall across the Brilliant Branch Bridge. We recognize the dollar figure for such a project would cause — has caused — sticker shock for many people. We felt that an expanded bike trail system could be a great alternative and cost significantly less. By filling in the gaps in the existing bike network and creating safer, protected trails, people would more readily use these bike paths, not just to get to and from work, but for leisure too.

That’s not to say that rail couldn’t be integrated. The bridge is incredibly sturdy. In fact, in 2003, there were some refurbishments done where they actually went in and stiffened it up even more so that it could withstand heavier trains.

Your plan also connects to the Great Allegheny Passage, and as of June, the U.S. Bicycle Route 50.

Basically, this trail would make it so you could bike from East Liberty all the way to D.C. on a protected trail, without cars. Once the 50,000 miles of the U.S. Bicycle Route 50 is complete, Brilliant Branch would connect to all 50 states.

People in Pittsburgh are increasingly choosing to bike around the city anyway, but this would be a great boost for the bicycle tourists visiting Pittsburgh on the GAP or Route 50. They wouldn’t need Uber or anything to get around.

Back to the High Line — even though it has become a popular model for renovating infrastructure, its impact on New York has been somewhat controversial.

The “G” word — gentrification — typically pops up in these discussions. It’s a difficult question that I don’t have a good answer to yet.

Really, if people did want this to happen we need to get more community buy-in. Like I said, this was intended to start a conversation, to show the potential of what the bridge could be, and to get people interested and involved in it. Maybe it’s just a bike trail, maybe it has some sort of transit component. It could be something else we haven’t considered yet, like a bridge museum or an industrial history museum. Why not? We’re still open to ideas.