The new Boundary Street line should further be extended from Clyde Street north to Millvale Avenue at Center Avenue. This will give a continuous cross-town thoroughfare—the first one on a good gradient east of the down town district—from Second Avenue on the south to Penn Avenue on the north, tapping, en route, practically all the radial thoroughfares in the East End.
30. Murray Avenue Extension.—Murray Avenue, in Squirrel Hill, is of secondary importance as a thoroughfare, owing to its steep gradients: but its usefulness can and should be increased by extending the street south along the line of the street railway from Forward Avenue, over Beechwood Boulevard on a viaduct or bridge, to Hazelwood Avenue.
Practically as a continuation of this line and of the Boulevard, the present roadway to Brown's bridge, now maintained by the Street Railways Company, should be widened and improved as a city street.
31. Beechwood Boulevard Re-alignment.—Beechwood Boulevard at Monitor Street makes two uncomfortably sharp bends to skirt a ravine. The ravine should be filled out two or three hundred feet from the upper end, and the Boulevard should be carried across on an easy curve at the eastern edge of the fill.
32. Second Avenue Extension.—From the Glenwood bridge to the mouth of Nine Mile Run, the old location of Second Avenue, between the Baltimore & Ohio tracks and the river, presents a first-rate opportunity for a riverside street or boulevard. There are practically no buildings or industries requiring river frontage for commercial purposes, and yet there is sufficient room for a riverside thoroughfare of ample width without encroaching too much upon the flood section of the river. In a city where rivers play so vital a part in the commercial development, and form a most telling and characteristic element in the landscape, every opportunity should be seized to enjoy as well as utilize them.
To be well above a maximum flood line, a boulevard along the water's edge would have to be nearly as high as the railroad grade; but to avoid the large cost for river walls and filling, which such a construction would imply, the road could be built at a level only rarely flooded without sacrificing an appreciable amount of its essential value for recreative purposes. At its southern end it would rise over the Baltimore & Ohio tracks, a short distance east of the Glenwood bridge, to connect with the proposed hillside thoroughfare (Section 14); and at its northern end it would rise to connect with Brown's bridge, and from there could extend into the Nine Mile Run valley. A parallel location for this street, on the hillside above the railroad, has been suggested and carefully considered; but it is believed that, owing to the large amount of retaining wall required, the cost of construction would be almost, if not fully, as great as in the other location, and, other things being equal, it is a very real disadvantage to have a railroad between the river and a road which would otherwise have so much value as a pleasure drive. In either location, however, this street would form an attractive and important link in a hoped-for park and parkway development.[17]
33. Batavia Street.—Frankstown Road is the principal thoroughfare feeding large portions of Penn township and country to the east. The importance of this line means inevitably the concentration of much traffic at the junction of Frankstown Avenue and Oakwood Street where the Frankstown Road begins. Some relief can and should be afforded by improving portions of Batavia Street and extending it to Frankstown Road at Blackadore Avenue. Batavia Street should also be extended across Oakwood Street to Kelly Street, thus encouraging the use of the latter as an approach to the Frankstown Road thoroughfare.
34. Wilkinsburg Grade Crossings.—In Wilkinsburg three important streets,—Rebecca Avenue, South Avenue and Penn Avenue,—cross the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks at grade. Although plans for separating these grades must depend on the general plan of the Railroad for improvements in this region, it seems that the best solution, both for the Railroad and for the people, will probably be to raise the tracks as much as possible and to carry them over the streets. It is supposed that a plan to raise their tracks is now under consideration by the Railroad.
35. Wilkinsburg-Edgewood Connection.—Improved thoroughfare connections from Wilkinsburg through Edgewood to Swissvale, Rankin and beyond are much needed. Pennwood and Edgewood Avenues offer perhaps the most promising route. By sufficiently widening the former from Hampton Avenue to Hutchinson Avenue it can be divided, the east half remaining as at present, and the west half rising gradually to an overhead railroad crossing at Hutchinson Avenue. East of the tracks the street would descend gradually to the south over Race Street to the junction of Swissvale and Edgewood Avenues, forming practically an extension of the latter.
Pennwood Avenue should also be extended along the railroad from Rebecca Avenue to Penn Avenue. If possible, the small freight yard now in the way should be removed, perhaps to the other side of Penn Avenue, but if this proves to be impracticable it will not be unreasonably indirect to carry Pennwood Avenue around and simply cut back the southerly corner of the freight yard.