Transportation in Pittsburgh
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- Main article: Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, surrounded by rivers and hills, has a unique transportation infrastructure that includes roads, tunnels, bridges, railroads and other structures, such as inclines, bike paths and stairways.
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[edit] Roads
Pittsburgh has a high number of freeze/thaw cycles in the winter, sometimes blamed for the difficulty of maintaining local roads. The hills and rivers of Pittsburgh form many barriers to transportation within the city.
The main highway connecting Pittsburgh to the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) on the east is I-376, locally known as the "Parkway East." The route of the Parkway East includes the locally notorious Squirrel Hill Tunnels, where several accidents involving trucks that are too tall to go through the tunnel getting lodged and stuck against the roof. Meanwhile, I-279 is a route that runs both north and west of the city. Depending on the route's location relative to Downtown, it is called either the "Parkway North" or the "Parkway West." The route connects the city with the North Hills and the Cranberry are from the north, while also connecting the city to points west, such as Greentree. The Parkway West also leads directly to the Pittsburgh International Airport main terminal; however, it is numbered as United States Route(s) 22/30 and later Pennsylvania Route 60 on this route, but is due to be redesignated Interstate 376 in the future.
Unlike many other major U.S. cities, Pittsburgh lacks a dedicated, contiguous beltway surrounding the city. I-76 (Pennsylvania Turnpike), I-79, and I-70, roughly form a triangular-shaped "beltway," but the distance of these roads from the city center and the need to exit and enter each leg in order to continue circling the city render them impractical as a beltway; commuters are forced to use secondary roads to go from suburb-to-suburb; The Pittsburgh/Allegheny County Belt System is an attempt at dealing with this without additional infrastructure.
I-579, or the "Crosstown," is a spur off of I-279 that alleviates downtown and North Shore traffic headed north or south and to events at either the convention center or the arena.
Interstate 279, along the "Parkway North" section of the highway north of the city and also a short section of Interstate 579 over the Veterans Bridge, contains reversible high occupancy vehicle, or "HOV," lanes for rush-hour commuting. On August 25, 1995, six people were killed in a head-on collision on the HOV lanes after a negligent highway employee opened the gates for traffic in both directions to use the HOV lanes simultaneously. The employee was later found to have been under the influence of cocaine.
- See also: Pittsburgh Left
[edit] Bridges
Pittsburgh is a city of bridges: over 2,000 bridges dot the landscape of Allegheny County [2]. The southern "entrance" to Downtown is through a tunnel and then over the Fort Pitt Bridge.
A bridge also carries the Port Authority's 42-S/47-L subway lines across the Monongahela River. Other notable bridges are Fort Duquesne Bridge, the Liberty Bridge and The Three Sisters.
- See also: Pittsburgh bridges
A comprehensive survey of regional bridges is maintained at Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, PA.
[edit] Airports
The city is served by Pittsburgh International Airport in suburban Findlay Township, Pennsylvania, formerly a hub--and presently a focus city--for US Airways.
General aviation is supported by the Allegheny County Airport. Its terminal is of a 1920s art-deco design. The airport, which once hosted Charles Lindbergh, handles 139,000 private and corporate-jet flights a year.
[edit] Mass transit
Local public transportation is coordinated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, or simply "PAT," the 14th-largest urban mass transit system in the United States. The system services 730 square miles (1891 km²), including all of Allegheny County and some portions of Armstrong, Beaver, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties [1]. The fare structure is graded by zones, and a one-way fare ranges from $1.25 to $2.75, depending on the number of zones through which a passenger travels. PAT maintains a network of intracity bus routes, two inclines on Mt. Washington above Downtown (mostly a tourist attraction today rather than a means of commuting), and a subway/busway system. The subway part of the system utilizes light rail-type trains that travel between Downtown and the southern suburbs underground, at-grade, and above-ground at various points along the largely parallel 42-S and 47-L lines; the busway part utilizes high-speed, articulated buses that run at-grade and above-ground, on their own right-of-way tracks with platform stations (much like a subway system), along two lines -- the WBA line that runs from the western suburbs (eventually including Pittsburgh International Airport) into Downtown and the EBA line that goes from Downtown to the eastern suburbs. Construction on a 42-S/47-L subway line extension to the city's North Shore section that will run underneath the Allegheny River is scheduled to be completed by 2010. The subway and busway lines all converge at Pittsburgh's Penn Station, the city's Amtrak intercity rail station, although the extension to Penn Station has seen little to no service for over 15 years. All subway/busway stations outside of Downtown have PAT station shuttles that serve the surrounding neighborhoods, and sections of the metropolitan area not served by the subway/busway system, including most of the northern suburbs, have regular PAT bus routes. For commuters from the outer suburbs in Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland counties, the mass transit systems of those counties operate their own commuter shuttles to and from the city (PAT discontinued its commuter rail system in the 1980s).
[edit] Bicycling
Pittsburgh has a thriving cycling community despite steep hills and variable weather. Efforts have been made to incorporate the bicycle into the transportation system. The Three Rivers Heritage Trail encompasses all the trials in the city. The Eliza Furnace Trail, known locally as the "Jail Trail", stretches from Downtown (at the Allegheny County Jail) to the East End region of the city, where trail access can be found along some roads. The North Shore Trail spans from the Alcosan plant along the Ohio River and continues along the Allegheny River to Milvale. The Southside Trail follows the Monogahela River and currently ends in Baldwin Bourough, but plans are underway to connect to McKeesport, completing the Great Allegheny Passage. This trail, in connection with the C & O Canal Trail, will form a continuous, off-street trail from Pittsburgh to Washington DC. Additionally, PATransit, the city's mass transit agency, has installed bike racks on some buses, and it allows bikes on its subway/busway system during off-peak hours. Bike Pgh! serves as the local bicycle advocacy group and is working to make Pittsburgh safe, accessible, and friendly towards bicycle transportation. The non-profit bike collective,Free Ride, recycles bicycles and bike parts, teaches bicycle construction, and has programs to sell or earn a rebuilt bicycle.
[edit] Inclines and staircases
Two inclines ascend Mount Washington: Duquesne Incline and Monongahela Incline. The Monongahela Incline was once paralleled by a freight incline, and Pittsburgh once had considerably more inclines. [2]
Pittsburgh has more public staircases (737) than any other city in the United States, followed by Cincinnati and San Francisco.[3] Many of these staircases have street names, and lead to hillside neighborhoods that can be difficult to access by car in winter.
[edit] Tunnels
Tunnels also provide major access routes through the slopes. Notable tunnels include the Fort Pitt Tunnel, Liberty Tunnels, Squirrel Hill Tunnel, and Armstrong Tunnels
[edit] Railroads
On the rails, the city has Amtrak intercity rail service at Penn Station, as well as various freight railroads.
During the height of Pittsburgh's steel-making days, the city had many passenger and freight rail connections to railroad mainlines. Many of these rail lines still exist, but are used mostly for freight. Some railroad lines have been converted, with the backing of former Mayor Tom Murphy, into multi-purpose trails, which have been rather popular.[3]
The current railroads in Pittsburgh include:
[edit] Class I railroads
[edit] Norfolk Southern (NS)
Norfolk Southern operates the former assets of Conrail, which was composed of the assets of the Pennsylvania Railroad and was instrumental in the formation of modern Pittsburgh. NS operates three lines through the City of Pittsburgh. The original line, the Pittsburgh Line, runs from U.S. Steel's former Edgar Thomson Steel Mill in Braddock, PA, over the Allegheny River near Downtown Pittsburgh, and into Island Ave. Yard where it becomes the Fort Wayne Line. The second line, the Mon Line, runs along the south shore of the Monongahela River from Braddock, PA, to Island Ave. Yard. The line was formerly the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railroad and is used by coal trains from southern Pennsylvania and trains with over height cars that cannot fit under the roof of Pittsburgh's Penn Station of the Pittsburgh Line. The Mon Line joins the Fort Wayne Line at Island Ave. Yard after recrossing the Monongahela River over the Ohio Connecting Railroad (OC) Bridge. The third line, the Conemaugh Line, runs along the north shore of the Allegheny River and serves several coal branch lines and power plants. Operations are centered around a small yard in Etna, PA. The Mon and Pittsburgh lines rejoin at both ends of Pittsburgh, and between the two, over 60 trains a day pass.
[edit] CSX
CSX operates the former assets of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE). Much of the old Baltimore & Ohio lines through Pittsburgh have been removed or are unused. Formerly an important part of the B&O system, Glenwood Yard is leased and operated by the Allegheny Valley Railroad for local jobs. The yard used to grant access to the B&O's Grant Street Station in Downtown Pittsburgh. The building has been rebuilt into a PNC Bank building and the old right of way is now a bike path. The B&O main line, which cuts north and under across Pittsburgh by using the Panther Hollow Tunnel is now used by the AVR. The bridge over the Allegheny River is no longer used; AVR trains connect with Norfolk Southern's Pittsburgh Line about 1 mile east of Penn Station. CSX freight trains use the former P&LE through McKeesport, PA, and Braddock, PA, before crossing the Mononghela River into Homestead, PA. The P&LE line and the Mon Line run side by side until the Mon Line crosses the Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge at McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. On an average day, the P&LE line carries about 30-35 trains a day.
[edit] Amtrak
Amtrak doesn't own any track in the Pittsburgh area but uses the rails of NS, CSX, and AVR. Two intercity rail trains serve Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvanian between Pittsburgh and New York and the Capitol Limited between Washington, DC, and Chicago via Pittsburgh. The Capitol Limited uses CSX from Washington, DC's Union Station to Pittsburgh's outer perimeter, the AVR from the perimeter through the Panther Hollow Tunnel in the city's university district to NS, and NS from the AVR interchange through Downtown's Penn Station until Chicago's Union Station. The Pennsylvanian operates from Pittsburgh's Penn Station to New York's Penn Station via Philadelphia.
[edit] Shortlines and Regionals
- Wheeling and Lake Erie R.R.
- AVR (Allegheny Valley Railroad)
[edit] References
- ^ "General Information and Statistics." Port Authority Transit. Retrieved June 26, 2006.
- ^ "[1]"
- ^ "[www.post-gazette.com/pg/06057/660944.stm]"
