Frankstown-Bennett Water District
Frankstown-Bennett is a busy corridor where roads, businesses and buried streams concentrate stormwater, contributing to flooding and sewer backups. Improvements along streets, parking areas, and nearby open spaces can extend UpstreamPgh’s existing efforts to manage stormwater, and can make a safer, more walkable district.
The Frankstown-Bennett Water District contains 4 project areas.
Dive into the Frankstown-Bennett projects!
Rockwell Park to Wilkinsburg Water District
Rockwell Park to Wilkinsburg is a relatively flat area with light industrial and main street commercial uses and is the largest impervious area in the shed. Increased investment and redevelopment can be directed to support new open spaces, street improvements, and private property upgrades to create a connected network of green stormwater infrastructure.
The Rockwell Park to Wilkinsburg Water District contains 5 project areas.
Wade into the Rockwell Park to Wilkinsburg Water District projects!
Hunter Park
Hunter Park is a neighborhood park where rainwater naturally flows, making it an ideal place to manage stormwater in ways people can see and enjoy. The park is slated for investment, where the community can engage in the design of play areas and fields that capture on site stormwater as well as water from the adjacent properties and right-of-ways.
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East Hills Park & Park Hill Drive
East Hills Park and Park Hill Drive include a school campus, park space, and surrounding homes where rainwater moves quickly downhill, contributing to erosion and flooding. The community is engaged in planning improvements to school grounds, park areas, and streets. This project can capture stormwater on site and from nearby roads and properties.
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Turner Intermediate School
Improvements to the schoolyard and fields, and parking areas can store on-site rain as well as capture runoff from nearby roads. The community has identified a need for field upgrades, making this an ideal opportunity for visible learning and environmental benefits for students and the surrounding neighborhood.
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Nine Mile Run Outflow
The Nine Mile Run Outflow is where stormwater from across the watershed exits the culvert and becomes an open-channel stream within Frick Park. Improvements at and upstream of this location can reduce concentrated discharges that contribute to infrastructure damage while creating a more welcoming and visible entry to the park and celebrate the restored Nine Mile Run.
Float into the Nine Mile Run Outflow project!
Hilltop Sending Properties are private properties at the highest points of the watershed that generate significant stormwater runoff, including large parking lots, vacant parcels, and vehicle storage areas. Private investment in green infrastructure reduces runoff as its source and helps relieve pressure on sewers and flooding downstream.
Hilltop Sending Properties contains 4 project areas.
Pour into the Hilltop Sending Properties projects.
Biddle Parking Lot & Fern Hollow Wetland
The Biddle Avenue parking lot at Frick Park’s eastern edge in Regent Square serves as one of the primary access points to the park. Currently, unmanaged stormwater from this lot drains to Fern Hollow Creek at high volume and velocity, contributing to erosion to the adjacent hillside and streambank below. A parking lot retrofit with porous pavers and a rain garden would help control stormwater flow into Fern Hollow Creek at the Wetland area.
The Wetland project area is located within Frick Park, roughly midway along the Fern Hollow Creek corridor. It encompasses one of the most ecologically significant habitats in Pittsburgh’s urban park system, and serves as a natural floodplain, providing important water storage and flow control during storm events. Currently, existing trail and sewer infrastructure restrict the natural flow of Fern Hollow Creek through this area. A system of boardwalk trails, improved drainage runnels and regrading of Tranquil Trail above the floodplain will allow the creek to flow naturally through this area. The design also improves accessibility and outdoor learning opportunities in this important part of the park.
Swim into the Biddle Parking Lot & Fern Hollow Wetland project!
Fern Hollow Stream Restoration & Confluence
The Confluence stream restoration project area is located at the lower end of the Fern Hollow Creek corridor, where the creek’s main stem meets Falls Ravine Creek near the intersection of Tranquil and Falls Ravine Trails. This part of Fern Hollow is among the most ecologically stressed in the corridor: the northeast hillside is steep, highly eroded, and actively delivering sediment to the stream through gully erosion and bank failure. A suite of nature-based interventions focuses on stabilizing the stream corridor and restoring ecological function. Live staking, brush layering, and riparian buffer plantings address bank erosion. A streamside trail extension brings park users to the water’s edge at carefully selected points, directing foot traffic away from sensitive areas.
The Confluence pavilion and restroom project at the intersection of Tranquil and Falls Ravine Trails is the most heavily trafficked convergence point in Frick Park, and a natural gathering space. The site currently lacks permanent restroom facilities, covered rest areas and wayfinding amenities. Utility connections that once served facilities in this location have been severed, leaving this area without the infrastructure needed to support new facilities. The design proposes reconstruction of an accessible restroom and picnic pavilion with restored utility connections and additional amenities identified through the Fern Hollow Vision Plan community survey. An informational kiosk at the confluence will include park history, wayfinding and interpretive information. Covered benches along Tranquil Trail provide space for rest and shelter.
Flow into the Fern Hollow Stream Restoration & Confluence project!
Henrietta & Overton Green Stormwater Infrastructure
The Henrietta Street Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) project encompasses the residential rights-of-way along Henrietta and LaClair Streets in Regent Square, adjacent to Frick Park. Much of the stormwater runoff in this area enters the combined sewer system, bypassing Fern Hollow Creek. The proposed design for a “street creek,” right-of-way GSI retrofit would capture, treat and slowly release stormwater to Fern Hollow Creek via a new underground pipe. Features include curb bumpout stormwater planters, a porous paving parking lane, porous paving “green” alley retrofit, and subsurface stormwater storage with slow release.
Similarly, the Overton Street GSI project area encompasses residential rights-of-way along Overton Street in Regent Square. A proposed “street creek” with curb bumpout stormwater planters would capture and filter runoff along Overton Street, while a neighborhood “parklet” at the corner of Overton Street and Macon Avenue would serve as the project’s subsurface storage. At grade, a new small “event” lawn is created, while treated stormwater with slow release is routed to Frick Park and Fern Hollow Creek via an existing underground pipe. With both Henrietta and Overton projects, the resulting reduction in combined sewer inflow directly reduces the risk of CSO discharges into Nine Mile Run during storm events.
Meander into the Henrietta & Overton Green Stormwater Infrastructure project!
