Skip to main content

Twin Rivers Scenic Road - A Mon Valley Mystery

Image
By

It's been a curiosity of mine for as long as I can remember.  What is, and where did the Twin Rivers Scenic Road southeast of Pittsburgh go?  And believe it or not, I am not alone on this.

About 35 years ago, these blue and green signs that read "Twin Rivers Scenic Road" started popping up everywhere I went around my childhood home.  I couldn't drive yet, but I wanted to know the route and where it went.  I saw them on Route 48 and McKeesport Road in Elizabeth.  

As I grew older and began driving, I forgot about this "scenic road" since I was more interested in exploring roads I had never traveled before.  Around 1999, I became curious about this road again.  And in transportation forums, a handful of Pittsburghers tried to hypothesize where the driving tour went and what and why it existed.

Fast forward to 2021, and a post in a Facebook group asking about the now completely faded signs; and what the road was for rekindled my interest in solving this mystery.

So what is this "Twin Rivers Scenic Road", where did it go, and where and why did it come about?

A McKeesport-located Twin Rivers Scenic Road sign in better days (2000). Photo by Bruce Cridlebaugh.

What:

My best guess is that this was a touring route created by the now-defunct Twin Rivers Council of Governments (TRCOG.)  The driving tour most likely promoted local tourism and/or recreation activities in and along the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers in Southeastern Allegheny County.  The Twin Rivers Scenic Road (TRSR) had a spur to the Boston Riverfront Park off of PA 48, the Elizabeth Waterfront Park, and Allegheny County's Round Hill Park.  A few Google and Newspaper Archive searches came up with next to nothing.  E-mails seem to agree with the TRCOG theory or possibly the Mon-Yough Riverfront Entertainment Council - which is also defunct.

The TRCOG theory seems to me to be the best because of the name "Twin Rivers."

Recreating the Route:

Here is where the fun begins.  In the map below, I try to figure out the route of the TRSR. Green pinpoints are where Twin River Scenic Road signs that still exist.  Blue pinpoints are where signs were known to exist (either verified via streetview or prior discussions).  Purple pinpoints were known "destinations" of the TRSR as they had larger signs in the same style as the road markers and named that park.  The Blue driving lines are what I know of as confirmed routes (by existing signs or prior discussions).  Pink lines are what I theorize the route to be. Purple is another possible route based theorizing White Oak Park was part of the destinations.  This is based on past discussions on the route.

Discussions 20 years ago mention signs were located on Lincoln Way east of White Oak - which makes me believe that White Oak Park was involved.  All of the communities the route goes through - Elizabeth Borough, Elizabeth Township, Forward Township, Glassport, McKeesport, White Oak, Versailles, etc. were all members of the TRCOG.  Since the nearby community of West Newton was also a member, the Twin Rivers Scenic Road could possibly have been routed there.  However, the remaining signs do not support that possibility.

It's basically hard to recognize the remaining TRSR signs today. (Mike Natale - October 2021.)

What is known is that there are at least four remaining signs of the route, all in poor condition - faded nearly beyond recognition.  Signs at the Boston Bridge were still up in 2012 but were gone by 2016.

Why:

The economic/recreational tourism promotion is probably the best theory.  The Yellow and Orange Belts of the Allegheny County Belt System intersect and travel along the TRSR, so a basic navigational wayfinding system was already in place.  In the late 1980s, the wayfinding you find in many towns - a result of many Main Street programs - was 20+ years away.  The earliest known reference of the Twin Rivers Scenic Road is a Carnegie Mellon University post in 1991 about bike riding in the Mon Valley.  It describes the Monogahela River section of the route.

I don't recall any brochures about the route or any local promotion.  It appears the signs went up and if you wanted to figure it out - by all means, go for it.  I am sure the TRCOG or whoever created the route did some publicity about it, but as of this writing, nothing has been found.

One of four known remaining TRSR signs - (Mike Natale - November 2021.)

So this mystery of the route isn't completely solved.  But with the help of technology we didn't have 20 years ago (social media and Google Streetview), we've been able to piece together some pieces of the puzzle.  Yet a few questions remain.  When did the route get signed, who or what organization was behind the scenic road, and what was its purpose?  

If you have any information, photos of any other remaining signage, or otherwise about the route - feel free to leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.

Site Navigation:

Sources & Links:


Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hawaii Route 8930

By
Hawaii Route 8930 is a 2.5-mile State Highway on the Island of O'hau.  Hawaii Route 8930 is aligned over Kualakai Parkway over the course of its entire alignment south from Interstate H-1 to Kapolei Parkway.  Hawaii Route 8930 is one of the newest Hawaii Routes only having been completed during 2010.   This page is part of the Gribblenation O'ahu Highways page.  All Gribblenation and Roadwaywiz media related to the highway system of O'ahu can be found at the link below: https://www.gribblenation.org/p/gribblenation-oahu-highways-page.html Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 8930 The history of Hawaii Route 8930 is brief given it is a modern facility.  Hawaii Route 8930 and what was known as "North-South Road" were built to facilitate the developing areas of Kapolei on western O'ahu.  According to hawaiihighways.com the first stage of Hawaii Route 8930 was completed from Kapolei Parkway north to Farrington Highway as a four-lane highway during November...
Post a Comment
Read more

Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road

By
Madera County Road 607 is an approximately seven-mile rural unsurfaced highway which spans from Road 600 near Raymond west to Road 29.   Road 607 west from Raymond Road Cemetery (established in 1905) is part of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road corridor surveyed in 1853. The corridor lies in the gap between Fresno Crossing at the Fresno River west to Newton's Crossing at the Chowchilla River. The Buchanan Copper Mine would be along what is now Road 607 in the namesake Buchanan Hollow during July 1863. The Buchanan Mine is thought to have once had a population of between 1,000-1,500 residents by the early 1870s. Copper prices would decline in the decade after the Civil War and much of the activity at Buchanan shifted towards cattle ranching. The last businesses in the community would shutter during World War II and it is now a true ghost town. Part 1; the history of Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road What is now Road 607 was a component of the larger Sto...
Post a Comment
Read more

Paper Highways; Interstate H-4 through downtown Honolulu

By
The Hawaiian Island of O'ahu is home to four Interstate Highways; H-1, H-2, H-3 and H-201.  Had history gone slightly differently during the 1960s a fifth Interstate corridor on O'ahu could have been constructed through downtown Honolulu and the neighborhood of Waikiki.  The proposed corridor of Interstate H-4 can be seen above as it was presented by the Hawaii Department of Transportation during October 1968 .   This page is part of the Gribblenation O'ahu Highways page.  All Gribblenation and Roadwaywiz media related to the highway system of O'ahu can be found at the link below: https://www.gribblenation.org/p/gribblenation-oahu-highways-page.html The history of proposed Interstate H-4 The corridor of Interstate H-4 was conceived as largely following what is now Hawaii Route 92 on Nimitz Highway and Ala Moana Boulevard.   Prior to the Statehood the first signed highways within Hawaii Territory came into existence during World War II.    Dur...
Post a Comment
Read more