Pittsburgh Main Thoroughfares and the Down Town District / Improvements Necessary to Meet the City's Present and Future Needs

by Frederick Law Olmsted

At present the trunk-line of this system (from the Point District past Soho hill) is composed of three narrow streets, Second Avenue, Forbes Street, and Fifth Avenue, which all together are no more than adequate to accommodate the present surface travel. Future developments in the East End, up the Monongahela, and in the country south of Homestead, and improved thoroughfare connections with the two latter regions, will undoubtedly increase the through traffic on these streets to such an extent that their capacity will soon be taxed beyond its limit. There can be no doubt that more accommodations will be needed in the near future.

Section of Second Avenue between Try Street and Tenth Street Bridge

At first thought it was hoped that Second Avenue might be improved to accommodate a reasonable increase in east and west traffic; but the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad on one side, and several large industrial plants on the other, present serious obstacles to widening it. A plan to exchange locations with the railroad was considered, but it did not appear to offer sufficient advantage to the railroad to tempt them to cooperate in the matter.

Incidentally, Second Avenue can and should be widened to 80 feet, from Ross Street to the Tenth Street bridge, thus making a good connection between the Point District and the South Side.

It remained then to secure the desired street capacity, in some way, through the valley now occupied by Forbes Street and Fifth Avenue. To avoid the higher land values on these streets, various schemes were tried to get a third thoroughfare in this valley, first on the south and then on the north side, but without success. The indirectness of line and the seriousness of grade difficulties, coupled with cost of cutting new connections at either end, more than outweighed the advantages offered by the cheaper land.

One proposition, however, is worthy of special remark. That was to cut a new street from Fifth Avenue, near Sixth Avenue, to the end of Colwell Street, widen the latter, carry it over the Moultrie Street valley on a high viaduct, skirt around Soho hill, partly above and partly below Beelen Street, and either join Fifth Avenue at Robinson Street, or, going over this street, follow along the hillside and meet the southerly end of Bayard Street. The cost of constructing this line, the complication of grades with cross-streets (owing to the width of the new street), and the difficulty of getting good connections with any thoroughfares leading up the Monongahela, practically put it out of the question as a solution of the main problem in hand. But it offers many advantages as a specialized thoroughfare for fast-moving automobiles for the East End. It is well up on the hill, furnishing, at times, fine outlooks over the river; the gradient need nowhere be over 4 per cent, and the line could be easily laid out so as to have very few grade crossings with other important streets. It is urged that this route be borne in mind when the demand is felt for another "Grant Boulevard," south of the Hill.

It remained, then, to consider adequate widenings of Fifth Avenue or Forbes Street. The former is now 60 feet wide throughout; it is by far the more important thoroughfare at present, land values are much higher than on Forbes Street, and new and somewhat costly buildings are already crowding out the cheap houses of an older generation. Forbes Street is also 60 feet in width, except near its westerly end where it is only 50 feet, but the buildings, on the whole, are much less valuable than those on Fifth Avenue. Lot depths are practically the same, and so are the street gradients. It is evident, therefore, that the widening of Forbes Street should be a far less costly undertaking than the widening of Fifth Avenue.

A thorough study of the possible eastward extensions of Forbes Street has developed no obstacles to using it as the principal thoroughfare. By referring to "Outlying Thoroughfare Improvements" below (Sections 11, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19), it will be seen that a cross connection can easily be secured at Brady Street to Fifth Avenue—the latter being the easier street to widen beyond this point, as well as offering somewhat better gradients. It will also be seen that the thoroughfare extension to Greenfield, Hazelwood, Glenwood, and eastward, can branch from Forbes Street (just east of Brady) more easily and cheaply than it could from Fifth Avenue. Forbes Street, moreover, enters the down town district at a slightly more central, and, considering the proposed improvements in the down town district, a more advantageous point.