Watt St Journal Article - PGH Stairs (Pittsburgh, Washington: 2014, houses)

[phatty5011]

There was an article in the recent Wall St Journal on the famous staircases of Pittsburgh. I just finished an urban hike 2 weekends ago where we visited nearly 25 of these staircases throughout the city. It was tough but really fun and I would reccomend for you all to climb a few of these, they are really cool.


In Pittsburgh, Residents Are Divided on What to Do About Famous Staircases - WSJ

What do yinz think?

[Geeo]

There is a set of city steps on the North Side near Perry High School that looks like a page from San Francisco: they run up along the sides of houses and are not along any street. There are gates from the house gardens to the landings of the steps, and a fence where the neighbors have nicely tended vining flowers flowing over the fences along the steps. I wish I could remember exactly where it was. It was like another world.

[phatty5011]

http://www.communitywalk.com/pittsbu...irs/map/444504

Here is a link to all of the stairs and some info on them.

[BobMcKelvin]

I used 311 about a year ago to report some missing planks on the Frazier Street steps in Oakland and was surprised to see they were repaired within a week's time. This was likely the result of vandals because the planks weren't missing a week earlier.

I don't necessarily think the stairs should be one of the top priorities for where the money goes, but I see nothing wrong with prioritizing one or two sets a year to get a full rehab (although $100,000 seems like a mighty steep price for some cement and some railings) and do patchwork repairs as the need arises. Personally I kind of like the rustic look of many of the stairs and would prefer they don't pour a ton of money into repairs, just do whatever it takes to prevent them from falling down and also maintain the pedestrian bridges because once they are gone they have little chance of reappearing.

While the WSJ article focuses on stairs and that's what everyone gets nostalgic about, the bigger picture is the loss of overall pedestrian connectivity and luckily there are some ideas floating around that may replace some of what has been lost.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/ci...s/201406020070 (would replace a long lost street connection)

Rock Alley Bike and Pedestrian Connector Project (would replace old path and reuse existing pedestrian tunnel under 376)

Low-priority bridge projects close off North Side residents | TribLIVE (would replace some key connections...at the very least I'd like to see a ped/bike bridge to replace the Davis Ave one)

[Buckeye Burgher]

At one time there was a LOOOONG and winding staircase that descended the front of Mount Washington
from Grandview Ave. to West Carson Street, near the Duquesne Incline. They were demolished sometime
in the 1930's.

Would be really cool if they still existed.

[Goinback2011]

Indian Trail Steps from Carson to Duquesne Heights c. early 1900's:



Indian Trail Steps

[doo dah]

Apparently some of the old posts are still there.
The link ^^^ is really neat, I like the Clarks Teaberry gum sign!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Burgher

Would be really cool if they still existed.

I would run those once up and once down---workout done for the day!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by phatty5011

Pittsburgh Stairs - CommunityWalk

Here is a link to all of the stairs and some info on them.

Actually, quite a few stairs are missing from this map. At least four additional sets of stairs are here in Polish Hill alone. I really wish the city would consider raising taxes to help preserve these historic treasures.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Actually, quite a few stairs are missing from this map. At least four additional sets of stairs are here in Polish Hill alone.

You're right. That isn't a very complete list. Here's another partial list, but it does cover Polish Hill pretty well.

Pittsburgh Steps

Maybe you have to buy the book mentioned in the article in the OP. But that's 10 years out of date now.