The newest addition to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the South Side became known as the 10-to-1 project because those were the odds it ever would be completed.

	Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette Wendy Grace from Penn Hills, far left, and Christine Lorson from Castle Shannon, center, let other cyclists pass Sunday afternoon on the Fourth to Ninth street section of the bike trail on the South Side. Click photo for larger image.

"We had $100,000 for a $1 million job," said Tom Baxter, program manager of the Friends of the Riverfront. "But we made it, thanks to the efforts of the city and a number of organizations."

To celebrate the new section, the organization will host its Fourth Annual Trail Mix(er), "a confluence of music, art and energy," from 6-11 p.m. today. The festivities will be held in a 1,200 square foot white tent pitched outside its offices on Fourth Street.

Baxter said the fund-raising event will celebrate the "continued redevelopment" of the city's riverfronts and trail expansions. And the new section from Fourth to Ninth streets will give everyone who hasn't seen it an opportunity to admire the latest accomplishment of the group's continued partnership with the city and other organizations to extend Pittsburgh's growing multiuse trail program.

The five-block addition, which links sections of the trail leading upstream along the Monongahela River toward the city's border with Baldwin borough and downstream to Station Square, was a major undertaking.

"No one anticipated the problems below the surface," said city architect Al Kovacik, referring to the thick concrete foundations that formerly supported industrial cranes.

"The construction division of the public works department did a terrific job with all phases of the work -- excavation, drainage, grading and some of the landscaping," he said. "And they finished the job on time and on budget."

Klavon Design Associates were the landscape architects, PA Cleanways of Allegheny County donated maple, red oak, poplar, service berry and other trees valued at $7,000 and volunteers from Steel City Media and Friends of the Riverfront came out on a rainy day in June to plant them.

The city contributed several hundred thousand dollars in in-kind services, including site preparation work by the Fourth Division of the public works department and sign fabrication and pavement painting by its Painting Division. Frank Bryan Inc. provided heavy equipment and Forest City Enterprise, the operators of Station Square, helped to channel the funding for the project.

A grant from the Laurel Foundation enabled the organization to upgrade its historical and cultural interpretive signs "with new technology, a crisp look and a great companion guide."

For more information, go to www.friendsoftheriverfront.org or call 412-488-0212.

A Grand opening

The new REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) store in the South Side Works development offered to donate $10 to Bike Pgh for everyone who arrived on a bicycle for its grand opening last weekend.

Although the weather was less than biker-friendly Friday and Saturday, 490 persons pedaled to the store in the three-day event. "It was a tremendous success," said Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pgh.

Bike Pgh provided free valet parking for the bicyclists and REI had a free gift -- a Topek multi-tool or Shebeest cycling socks -- for the bicyclists. For more information on Bike Pgh, go to www.Bike-Pgh.org or call 412-726-5872.

Be careful out there

Hunting season has begun and some vision-challenged hunters may have difficulty distinguishing between wildlife and humans on bicycles. Help them out.

Make yourself visible. Wear orange or any other bright, non-animal color when you're on a bike trail. If you ride a recumbent bike, attach an orange pennant.