PLAN FOR THE PROPOSED HUMP CUT
PROFILES OF THE PROPOSED HUMP CUT
The accompanying plan and profiles indicate the area and amount of cut which appears to be the least that should be undertaken. The area is practically the same as that proposed on the Bureau of Surveys' plan of December, 1909; the cut at certain places, however, is considerably deeper. A cut of 11.3 feet at Grant and Diamond Streets gives a maximum gradient of 4.75 per cent on the latter; a cut of 14.3 feet at Grant Street and Fifth Avenue gives a maximum gradient of 4.74 per cent on Fifth Avenue; and a cut of 8.9 feet at Webster and Sixth Avenues gives a maximum gradient of 4.34 per cent on the latter and 3.4 per cent on the Grant Street-Sixth Avenue cross-town route. These gradients are certainly not ideal, but it is believed that they are good enough to justify the undertaking, and deeper cuts are not urged chiefly because the area of cut would thereby be extended further into abutting regions where little or no benefit could be assessed and practically no damage-waivers could be obtained; the cost of the undertaking being thereby inordinately increased.
On Grant and Ross Streets the maximum gradients proposed are about 4.5 per cent, not excessive for lines which are not of the first importance. There is little advantage in extending the cutting any further on Wylie Avenue than is forced by the cut on Sixth Avenue, for there is no object in securing an easy gradient at one point when the gradient just beyond is over 7 per cent and cannot well be improved. The same applies to Webster Avenue east of Tunnel Street, but it must be cut heavily at this point partly on account of the cut at Sixth Avenue and partly to provide a good gradient on the extension of Grant Boulevard.
The extension of Grant Boulevard and the widening of Webster Avenue from Tunnel Street to Grant Street, the widening of Strawberry Way and Oliver Avenue and the widening of Sixth Avenue and Diamond Street have been recommended in the first part of this report. It is further recommended: (1) that Fifth Avenue between Ross and Grant Streets be widened to 60 feet; (2) that Cherry Alley be widened to 50 feet between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, and (3) that the westerly corner of Sixth Avenue and Grant Street be cut off enough to allow the passage of one line of vehicles between the curb and a car rounding the corner. These changes should all be incorporated in any general plan for cutting and improving the Hump District.
THE CITY AND THE ALLEGHENY RIVER BRIDGES
Recommendations for Bridge Heights and Pier Location to Meet the Various Transportation Needs of Pittsburgh
By Colonel Thomas W. Symons
and Frederick Law Olmsted