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Neighbors report trash, fecal matter, needles on public city walkway

PITTSBURGH — Neighbors tell Channel 11 they are growing increasingly concerned about the state of the public walkway along and beneath the West End Bridge.

“It just seems like recently it’s gotten a lot worse and I don’t know why,” said Jacob Dumont. “Trash, feces, urine, it’s all over the place. It’s disgusting.”

Jacob lives on the North Side, where he met our crews near one of the walkway entrances. We saw mounds of garbage, syringe caps, and even suspected fecal matter. There was evidence that people have been living on the public pedestrian path.

Another viewer sent us photographs showing needles on the walkway as well.

“A lot of heroin needles and caps, syringes all over the place, along the walkway for a lot of pedestrians that use the West End Bridge to get to the North Shore, especially for large events like Steelers games, etc.”

Jacob worries about the safety hazards the trash could pose to people walking, particularly from exposed needles.

“I’m afraid of people getting jabbed... that carries a lot of health hazards within itself,” he said. “It’s Summertime, a lot of women and men wear flip flops, sandals.”

Jacob said citizens have attempted to get help from local leaders but to no avail.

“I’d like to see it get resolved pretty quickly, I don’t want to see no one hurt.”

Channel 11 is working to get answers from city officials and we have also reached out to PennDOT to see who exactly is responsible for maintaining this area.

We further have asked a city spokesperson if there is any outreach in the area to help any individuals who may be living on the walkway.

We will update this web story as soon as we receive responses.