With public access to the Allegheny River in question due to development of the western end of the Impact Warren project, little has been said about the eastern end, which promises to take modern public access of the river to an unprecedented level.

The original design for the downtown riverfront development called for a floating barge amphitheater at the foot of Market Street and a pedestrian bridge connecting downtown Warren to Point Park. According to city officials, the two projects still have a green light to proceed. “As far as I know, it’s still in the plans,” Warren council member John Lewis said. “It was in the last drawings we received.”

“I think it’s going to happen,” council member Scott Pascuzzi said. “It’s part of the scope of the project, let’s put it that way. We’re trying to stick to the original scope.”

“By no means have the efforts stopped,” Warren mayor Mark Phillips said. “I think what you’re seeing is movement from west to east in Impact Warren.”

In 2003, the city received a $100,000 grant from Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to develop an amphitheater. In addition, the city has received funds from federal sources to cover the costs of building a pedestrian bridge to Point Park, estimated
at $300,000 to $400,000.

So what’s the hold-up? A landowner with property that needs to be purchased to build the amphitheater and bridge has yet to reach an agreement with the city. Lewis, Pascuzzi, Phillips and council member David See all confirmed the land issue, but said they couldn’t officially
comment on the situation.

The possibility of building an amphitheater on the river near the foot of Market Street was unveiled in a sketch plan in July 2000. The plan evolved into an amphitheater with a barge for a stage, a new park just north of the amphitheater, a pedestrian bridge and a foot path to the bridge from the intersection of Clark and Market streets.

I & A Construction from Starbrick offered to donate a barge for the project on the condition that some party take responsibility for hauling it from Starbrick to Warren. That’s no longer an option: the company sliced the barge into scrap metal. “They never did anything with it,” I & A Construction’s Ron Pazderski said. “We tried and tried and tried to sell it or give it away. Nobody wanted it.”

While the city may be in the market for a barge, the mayor said they may have already found a bridge. According to Phillips, he and developer Bob Yoder, president of the Susquehanna Valley Development Group, have been in contact with a local steel bridge fabricator. “We feel they could do the job,” Phillips said. In the past, Yoder suggested using the Fifth Avenue Bridge for the project. The bridge has been scheduled for replacement for years. However, moving the bridge from its current location to Point Park would be very expensive.

As for the private development sector of Impact Warren blocking public access to the Allegheny River, See said people need to look at the big picture. “You have to look at what you’re gaining by closing these portions down,” he said. “We have more access to the river now than we did when the area was a parking lot. We’ve got a 600-foot riverwalk and a landing by the bridge. You can get right down on the water, fish and do whatever on the river.”

There is also an ambitious plan underway to extend the riverwalk all the way to the downstream railroad trestle. Harvey Stone, of Stone Consulting & Design, confirmed his company was hired to handle the permitting work for the project.

“It’s going to be a two-part process,” See said. He added that preparations were being made to extend the riverwalk under the as-of-yet completed Hickory Street Bridge to take advantage of an existing access road. Warren City Council has allocated $7,000 to begin the project. “That’s something we’d like to get to while they still have things ripped up,” See said.

Phillips said the extended walkway would be a wooden fabrication or some other material.

See said the walkway would run along the river before rising to meet the sidewalk at some point, perhaps as far down as the lower trestle.

“The thought is we are still trying to get people close to the river,” he said. “We’re not trying to block anyone out.”