At long last — just at the end of this fair reporter’s “illustrious” (God knows who I’m quoting there) three-year running career — the Schenley Oval is finally being renovated.
Those runners who’ve enjoyed the dubious pleasure of going ‘round and ‘round the brick-red track at the Schenley Oval will no doubt be aware of the similarly dubious condition of the track itself. Over the years, aggravated by the wheels of rule-breaking ruffians that insist on riding their bicycles and scooters where only shoes are supposed to go, the track was rather worse for wear.
In many places in lane 1, the track was completely eroded, and when it rained, pools of water would form and splash up into your face as you ran by. Little bits of the track would also fly up and stick to the back of your shirt, making it look like someone had chucked chunks of Venetian Red oil pastel at you from behind.
The white-lines delineating where one should begin and end their lap were so faded that, in poor conditions, one was forced to squint to make them out. The jumping tracks and pit were similarly in quite poor condition. There were indications that the city was considering replacing the two-decade old track, but betting on the timeliness of Pittsburgh Public Works is a bad bet indeed.
And so WT Cross Country and Track Coach (not to mention runner extraordinaire) Jen Bigham was not a little bit shocked to find bulldozers tearing up the track last week — throwing a wrench in the last few weeks of the WT track season. “It’s long overdue,” Coach Bigham told me, but she was “very surprised by the timing since it’s during the heart of track season and so many high schools and colleges use the track.”
The Oval renovations have followed the installation of a series of new overhead lights that now illuminate the entire of the Oval sports complex (including once dark areas of the grass field and the cinder track), and it is rumored that future renovations will target the tennis courts (and, one hopes, the bathrooms; as it stands, the porta-potties are nicer than the physical bathrooms).
For future generations of WT runners (of which, there no doubt will be many: who doesn’t want to win a state title?) a new track will be a great boon for their training. What may actually prove a bigger obstacle to WT runners in the next few years is actually getting to the track.
Currently, all WT runners go across the Panther Hollow Bridge on their 1.56 mile run to the Oval. However, it appears that the Panther Hollow Bridge — already closed to all vehicles — may completely close to all bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
In a recent update, the city announced that even as the Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge is set to open in fall of 2026, construction will soon begin to repair the Panther Hollow Bridge’s steel truss system.
In wake of the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge in January, 2022, the city became understandably worried about the rest of their bridges and launched a wave of renewed inspections. What emerged was that for years, the city had neglected to properly maintain their many bridges, and so there is an extensive (and costly) backlog of repairs that the city must currently work through.
In October of 2024, the city decided to close the Panther Hollow Bridge “out of an abundance of caution” after structural issues were discovered with the steel truss system. This is rather understandable: a second Fern Hollow is about the worst thing that could happen to a city government.
However, while the bridge is undergoing repairs, WT runners will no longer be able to run across it to the Oval. Alternate paths require that you either go down into Panther Hollow or make a much more extensive diversion — both quite inconvenient options.
I’m certain the WT running program will survive such an inconvenience. But “just cooldown back from the Oval” may soon become a much longer prospect for tired legs after a long workout.
