No- wake zone on Allegheny River expanded

Say goodbye to speed boating and wake- jumping on the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission board of commissioners voted Tuesday in Harrisburg to extend the borders of an existing “slow nowake zone” that bans operators of inboard and outboard motors from creating visible waves behind them in waters near The Point. Currently, the Allegheny arm of the slow no- wake area extends from The Point to the Rachel Carson Bridge at Ninth Street. The new regulation expands the zone upriver to the Veterans Bridge ( Interstate 579), and extends the period of its enforcement to cover May 1 to Nov. 1. Previously, it ended Oct. 1.

No- wake enforcement hours will remain the same: 3 p. m. Fridays until midnight Sundays, and 3 p. m. on the day preceding Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day until midnight of the holiday.

The new parameters will not change the slow nowake zone beginning at The Point and extending on the Monongahela River to the Fort Pitt Bridge, and along the Ohio River to the West End Bridge.

The amendments will go into effect upon publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

“The change is intended to create safer conditions for mooring vessels along the Riverwalk due to increased boating traffic in the fall,” said Michael Parker, Fish and Boat spokesman.

Michael Sills, of Lawrenceville, director of the Freedom Boat Club Pittsburgh chapter, a nationwide recreational boating advocacy group, said he believes boaters will welcome the changes.

“Sounds good to me,” he said. “We need more of a nowake zone near The Point. The banks of the river in the city are either stone, block or cement and the wakes bounce back and forth. I think some boaters might be happy about this because it will make the rivers more calm.”

The river banks above and below Pittsburgh are generally softer. The Pittsburgh Pool includes 24 nautical miles of open river from The Point to the first locks and dams on the Three Rivers.

“There’s plenty of room for recreational boating,” Mr. Sills said. He wondered, however, why the slow no- wake zone wasn’t also extended farther on the Monongahela River.

“They have the Gateway Clipper, the South Side launch, Freedom Boat Club, mooring at SouthSide Works and the [ sightseeing] Tiki Boats,” he said. “The wakes get pretty big up there, too.”

Ron Taylor, of Cranberry, an officer in the Pennsylvania Southwest Bassmen club, said the new regulation will complicate tournament angling on the rivers.

“Under some weather conditions, the Allegheny can be the most productive section of the pool,” he said. “Not only does it require a very long slow idle when weigh- in time is approaching [ and] there can be a lot of other boaters on the water, it likewise requires the same long slow idle at firstsafelight at 5: 30 or 6 a. m. when nobody else is on the water. That combination significantly cuts into total available fishing time for the tournament angler to whom time is money.”

Also, on the advice of the Boating Advisory Board, commissioners agreed to consider recommending that state legislators amend a portion of the Motorboat Noise Control law to “become less subjective and more enforceable through a more highly defined set of standards.” The proposal is expected to be considered for final rulemaking at a future commissioners’ meeting.