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It may seem that way from your vantage point in Silver Spring, CHIP72, but it obviously does not seem that way to the inhabitants of those areas.
I just moved from the Harrisburg area, am originally from eastern PA (Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton area), and most importantly went to graduate school in western PA (at IUP) and college in rural central PA (at Juniata), so I wouldn't say I have an uninformed opinion.
I wonder who the geographers are. I heard of the supposed Chi-Pits megalopolis--but the CSA's from Chicago to Pittsburgh don't touch. Actually, Pittsburgh's and DC's CSA almost touch now, but the furthest you'll get into the Midwest from Pittsburgh is Cleveland.
Uh, no. Pittsburgh's and Washington's CSA's don't come anywhere close to touching, not with the Appalachians in between and Cumberland and Johnstown being the largest metro areas (both under 100,000 people) in the 250 mile or so distance between the Steel City and the nation's capital.
I just moved from the Harrisburg area, am originally from eastern PA (Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton area), and most importantly went to graduate school in western PA (at IUP) and college in rural central PA (at Juniata), so I wouldn't say I have an uninformed opinion.
None of those places are Pittsburgh, though. Indiana, PA is barely western Pennsylvania. Though I bet you went to school with a lot of Pittsburghers at IUP!
Uh, no. Pittsburgh's and Washington's CSA's don't come anywhere close to touching, not with the Appalachians in between and Cumberland and Johnstown being the largest metro areas (both under 100,000 people) in the 250 mile or so distance between the Steel City and the nation's capital.
The DC CSA incorporates some areas in the eastern West Virginia panhandle that just barely meet the definition for inclusion in the CSA, primarily because those WV counties west of Martinsburg are very low in population but have a high percentage of their few residents that commute to DC. The commuter shed for DC extends far out from the city due to very high housing prices. Actually, I think the WV counties are in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg MSA, which has ties to but is separate from the Washington MSA. (If Winchester, VA has its own MSA - I can't remember if it does or not, though I do know it met the 50,000 person threshold for classification as an MSA in the 2000 Census - some of those WV counties west of Martinsburg may actually be in with Winchester rather than Hagerstown-Martinsburg.)
Also, a county is typically included in a CSA/MSA if ANY part of the urbanized area for a city extends into that county. Sometimes the portion of the county including the CSA/MSA is very small. For example, the portion of the Pittsburgh MSA that extends into Fayette County (Uniontown/Connellsville) is very small; it touches the northwestern portion of the county along the Monongahela River. (Uniontown also actually qualified as its own MSA in the 2000 Census.)
Finally, I don't know of any major road that connects DC to Pittsburgh via the shortest distance between the CSA's. The road probably everybody uses for most of the distance for travel between DC and Pittsburgh is I-70, and there is a lot of rural areas and a few small towns (Somerset, Bedford, etc.) between west of Hagerstown and east of Greensburg, which isn't exactly a short distance.
None of those places are Pittsburgh, though. Indiana, PA is barely western Pennsylvania. Though I bet you went to school with a lot of Pittsburghers at IUP!
Well of course Harrisburg and the Lehigh Valley aren't western PA, they ARE part of the Northeast. By contrast, I don't believe western PA, based on my time at IUP, is part of the Northeast; it is something distinctly different. Western PA is NOT the Midwest though either.
You know, A LOT of people I know denigrate the physical attractiveness of women in Pittsburgh and western PA, but I sure saw a lot of attractive-looking females when I was at IUP. That being the case, I have to agree that perhaps Indiana, PA really isn't western PA.
The DC CSA incorporates some areas in the eastern West Virginia panhandle that just barely meet the definition for inclusion in the CSA, primarily because those WV counties west of Martinsburg are very low in population but have a high percentage of their few residents that commute to DC. The commuter shed for DC extends far out from the city due to very high housing prices. Actually, I think the WV counties are in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg MSA, which has ties to but is separate from the Washington MSA. (If Winchester, VA has its own MSA - I can't remember if it does or not, though I do know it met the 50,000 person threshold for classification as an MSA in the 2000 Census - some of those WV counties west of Martinsburg may actually be in with Winchester rather than Hagerstown-Martinsburg.)
Also, a county is typically included in a CSA/MSA if ANY part of the urbanized area for a city extends into that county. Sometimes the portion of the county including the CSA/MSA is very small. For example, the portion of the Pittsburgh MSA that extends into Fayette County (Uniontown/Connellsville) is very small; it touches the northwestern portion of the county along the Monongahela River. (Uniontown also actually qualified as its own MSA in the 2000 Census.)
Finally, I don't know of any major road that connects DC to Pittsburgh via the shortest distance between the CSA's. The road probably everybody uses for most of the distance for travel between DC and Pittsburgh is I-70, and there is a lot of rural areas and a few small towns (Somerset, Bedford, etc.) between west of Hagerstown and east of Greensburg, which isn't exactly a short distance.
You're right about this; I wasn't thinking in the context of CSA, but in the sense that a plane ride should be about 200 miles.
On the whole economic connectivity issue, I think it is interesting to note (for what it's worth), that three of the top ten cities in Pittsburgh's hinterworld are: (1) Washington DC; (4) Philadelphia; (7) Boston (three of the five East Coast cities). The top American cities in New York's hinterworld are: (1) Washington DC; (3) Boston; (4) Chicago; (11) Pittsburgh.
Interesting! Say more about that. I haven't heard of hinterworlds. Who did these rankings?
Washington DC & Baltimore according to Urban planners, and Geographers are part of the northeastern 'megalopolis' or also called the 'BosWash' corridor. Though today it actually extends from Washington to Portland Maine.
Although DC and Baltimore have somewhat of A more 'southern flavor' they are still more culturally and economically connected to the cities up the coast, then the south.
Pittsburgh is technically a northeastern City, but Geographers connect it more to the Midwest culturally and economically then to the northeast. The same holds true for Buffalo- which also has some ties to Canada (Hamilton & Southern Ontario)
What are Buffalo's ties to Hamilton? Just its closeness?
It may seem that way from your vantage point in Silver Spring, CHIP72, but it obviously does not seem that way to the inhabitants of those areas.
Absolutely correct!
CHIP72, here's a way to check this out. Why not post a poll at the Pittsburgh and Buffalo subforums and ask those who live in those metros to pick which region they believe they are a part of..
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I heard of the supposed Chi-Pits megalopolis--but the CSA's from Chicago to Pittsburgh don't touch. Actually, Pittsburgh's and DC's CSA almost touch now, but the furthest you'll get into the Midwest from Pittsburgh is Cleveland.
