A swath of compacted snow shows there’s a good bit of traffic over the pedestrian bridge linking Hyde Park with Leechburg across the Kiski River, even in the winter.

That path, which was visible midday Tuesday before all the new snow fell, showed which way those people went after they crossed the bridge to the Hyde Park side: across the railroad tracks that run along Railroad Street.

Norfolk Southern, which owns the tracks, is making it clear people shouldn’t be doing that, having recently stapled paper signs to utility poles near the bridge threatening to prosecute those who do.

“Trespassing is dangerous and illegal,” say a trio of signs posted near the bridge. “Stay off railroad property. Violators will be prosecuted.”

Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband said the signs went up in November, at the bridge and at other points along the boundary of the railroad’s right of way along Railroad Street.

Crossing the tracks to get to the bridge is illegal, Husband said.

“By law, the only legal place to cross railroad tracks is at designated public crossings,” he said.

Husband said the signs are the end result of a more than year-old complaint from a resident, who said a Hyde Park business was using the railroad’s property as a parking lot. Talks for a lease to allow the business to use the property ended when the business owner said he was not interested, according to Husband.

Husband would not identify the business. But Bill Cline, owner of Xtreme Detailing, said his customers use a parking area across the street from his business. He said he tried to negotiate a lease with the railroad to use that ground, but could not agree to the terms the railroad wanted, including having $2 million in liability insurance.

Now, Cline said railroad police have warned him they will cite him and his customers if they park there.

“It’s their property,” Cline said. “They can do what they want with it.”

Hyde Park fire Chief John Corna said his department got a letter from Norfolk Southern telling them that the larger parking lot across from their hall is private property owned by the railroad and is not to be used for public parking.

It warned that vehicles could be towed and their owners fined, he said. But it hasn’t been a problem for the department or its members, who are advised to park on the streets.

“They have the right and authority to do what they want,” Corna said. “It’s their ground. We don’t have a say in it.”

The railroad’s prohibition doesn’t choke off access to the bridge, which has linked the two boroughs for about 90 years. Significant sums of money have been invested in its care and upkeep.

But the nearest legal crossing is about a half-mile away at Main Street. Enterprise Way spans much of that distance, but there’s an undeveloped gap between the end of the road at Penn Manufacturing and the bridge.

The borough has a right of way along the riverfront that can be used to get to the bridge, but it has been unsuccessful in getting grant money to improve it, Corna said.

“The ultimate goal was to build a riverfront park along there,” he said. “The bridge can be accessed off Enterprise (Way) along the river. It just needs to be developed into that.

“If that would happen, it would eliminate the problem.”

People use the bridge daily, whether just for strolls or to get to jobs or shopping in Leechburg, Corna said.

Corna said about a dozen trains, most hauling coal, come through the borough each day.

He could not recall any problems at the bridge crossing in the 30 years he’s been with the fire department.

Husband said the railroad fully intends to seek charge anyone caught walking across the tracks.

According to District Judge Cheryl Yakopec’s office, Norfolk Southern has not sought charges against anyone for trespassing on its property in Hyde Park since December 2009, the furthest back that records were readily available.

Corna said the railroad’s right of way goes from the tracks to Railroad Street, and no one should be parking in it or crossing it to get to the bridge.

“It’s a liability issue,” Corna said. “They’re not going to take responsibility for someone on their property when they’re not supposed to be on their property. They’re making it very clear to everybody to stay off their property.”

But, Corna conceded, people will still sneak across the tracks.

“That’s been going on for a hundred years,” he said. “The long and short of it is, it’s still going to go on unless the railroad plans on posting someone there 24/7.”

Copyright ©2026— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)