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

by Frederick Law Olmsted

7. Sharpsburg Bridge.—The Sharpsburg bridge is the next important branch of the Butler Street thoroughfare. It forms the most direct connection from Pittsburgh proper to the boroughs of Sharpsburg and Etna and to large portions of Shaler and O'Hara townships. The bridge should be widened—the present roadway being only 21 feet including car tracks—and the northern approaches should be improved. (Sections 60 and 61 following.)

8. Butler Street Improvement.—From a point nearly opposite the western end of Baker Street east to Haights Run, there is no property of value for manufacturing, or for dwellings, or stores, between Butler Street and the railroad which runs below it on the river bank. The same is true east of Haights Run as far as the Brilliant pumping station or the present beginning of Beechwood Boulevard. It seems very desirable that these portions of Butler Street, instead of being widened merely enough for traffic accommodation, be developed as a picturesque riverside parkway—a fitting approach to Highland Park and a continuation of Beechwood Boulevard. This involves the control of the narrow strip of property between Butler Street and the railroad; though occasional houses might be allowed to remain therein without detriment to the effect as a whole. The Bureau of Parks is working along these general lines, and has already bought many parcels of the land north of Highland Park between Butler Street and the railroad.

9. Haights Run Bridge.—The present Butler Street bridge over Haights Run is of light construction and has a total width of only 17 feet; this should be rebuilt of ample strength and capacity.

10. The Aspinwall Bridge.—The Aspinwall bridge, crossing the river at Six Mile Island from Butler Street to the eastern portion of Sharpsburg, is narrow (36 feet over all) and is of light construction. It is so important that it will some day need to be rebuilt of ample width and strength for main thoroughfare use. At its southern end it connects (1) with the Butler Street thoroughfare, of which it forms the northeastern extension, and (2) with a proposed cross-town line (Section 25 following) up the Haights Run Valley to East Liberty. On the north it connects directly with Guyasuta and Aspinwall, with most of the country in O'Hara township, and with the Freeport Road leading to Claremont, Montrose, Oakmont and all points up the Allegheny River. This Freeport Road is destined to become the main thoroughfare up the Allegheny because the precipitous character of the south bank of the river, and the consequent almost total absence of land suited to residential or commercial development between Highland Park and Verona, make the direct extension of Butler Street, as a riverside thoroughfare, both expensive and impracticable.

Diagram No 4. Forbes Street—Fifth Avenue connection at Soho

Diagram No. 5. Fifth Avenue—Center Avenue connection at Soho

11. Forbes Street—Fifth Avenue Connection at Soho.—At Soho the connection between the Forbes Street artery and Fifth Avenue—the principal thoroughfare to Bellefield and all points to the east thereof—is most simply accomplished by splitting the Forbes Street artery at Seneca Street into two levels, the upper, on the north side, running on nearly a straight line and gradient to Fifth Avenue, joining it just west of the school house. (Diagram No. 4.) The lower portion would become the continuation of Forbes Street, and should be raised at Brady Street about 17 feet, or so much that the gradient on Brady Street, up from Forbes Street under the proposed high-level street to Fifth Avenue, will not be over 6 or 7 per cent. A good gradient will still be possible on the approach from Forbes Street to the Twenty-second Street bridge; and the Forbes Street gradient, down from Seneca Street, will be much reduced. These changes will greatly improve the means of access to the Twenty-second Street bridge.

On Forbes Street, just west of Craft Avenue, there is a bad gradient for a main thoroughfare (about 6½ per cent) which is not easy to improve; but the above cross connection at Brady Street will give a through line to the East End via the Forbes Street artery and Fifth Avenue, with a maximum gradient of about 4½ per cent (on the Soho hill).