PITTSBURGH — The Coast Guard is restricting vessel traffic on the Allegheny River from mile marker 12 to mile marker 14 near Pittsburgh.
The closure comes following a Thursday afternoon train derailment that caused several of its cars to enter a creek near the river.
Crane evolutions to remove the derailed train cars are scheduled to begin Friday, with the Environmental Protection Agency as the lead agency for the incident.
“We understand the inconvenience this closure will have to our local boaters over the Memorial Day weekend and we want to ensure them we are doing everything we can to open the river as soon as safely possible,” said Cmdr. Eric Velez, captain-of-the-port for the Port of Pittsburgh, “Our focus at the moment is to provide a safe evolution of the train car removal and to prevent any environmental impacts to the area.”
Restrictions will remain in place until the captain-of-the-port has deemed the waterway safe.
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