To see the difference almost a year of dredging made to North Park Lake's once silt-choked depths, just check out the tree stumps.
A fleet of heavy excavators and dump trucks removed more than 315,000 cubic tons of mud that entombed the stumps of once-mighty trees that mark the lake bed's original depth when Allegheny County created it in the early 1930s.
In a few weeks, county officials plan to allow Pine Creek and Irwin Run to refill the lake and end construction on the biggest man-made lake in the county's largest park. Along the way, the project encountered a few problems, including at least one work stoppage, problems with removing the sediment and muddy water in the basin after heavy rain or snow.
"It's a long time coming, but it's been worth the wait," said Gary Rigdon, president of Friends of North Park. "If it didn't happen, we would have ended up with a big overgrown mud puddle. Instead, we're going to have a beautiful lake that will stay fresh all year around."
The 75-acre lake's waters — favored for fishing and paddle boating — will be about 8 feet deep, said Public Works project manager Steven Smallhoover.
Steady rains in April and May deposited several inches of muddy water in the basin, which workers drained at least five times beginning September 2009 because of heavy rain or snow, he said.
The project will cost up to $21 million, a figure that includes $5 million worth of work the Army Corps of Engineers did in the first phase of dredging.
When a contractor finishes dredging Irwin Run, a three-acre body of water near the corner of Pearce Mill Road and Babcock Boulevard, workers will install a concrete boat launch to allow canoes and rowboats easier access to the water, Smallhoover said.
Eager anglers will have to be patient.
The state Fish & Boat Commission stocked only small, young fish in the lake. Trout, bass, crappie, bluegill and catfish will be added later.
"You're not going to see a whole lot of good fishing out here for a while," Smallhoover said.
Workers installed wood and stone fish habitats in the lake and 2,500 feet of coir log — a foot-wide tube of coconut fiber and mesh -- around the shoreline to coax frogs and other amphibians to return.
The sloppy sediment was the subject of a feud the Tribune-Review detailed in November between county officials and two private contractors — Allison Park Contractors Inc. and Charles J. Merlo Inc. of Cambria County — hired to remove and store it at a 65-acre dump site off Wildwood Road.
The dispute was over whether it was possible to dry the wet sediment enough to make it stable on the dump site, which is in a ravine next to North Park Pool. The contractors raised the possibility that the project would overrun its budget and deadline.
Smallhoover said the dump site is stable and that work will finish on time.
As for the cost, he acknowledged that in 2010 his department requested and received $3 million additional funding to cover the Irwin Run work and contingencies. He said it probably won't all be used.
"We decided to go ahead and dredge the Irwin Run area," said Kevin Evanto, a spokesman for County Executive Dan Onorato. "We're taking care of that so that the entire lake will be done."
