Welcome to Pittsburgh..... I guess ??? (Darlington: house, buy, live in)

[juliempdx]

We have been in Pittsburgh for almost two weeks now and I am hoping things will change for the better The first night we were here our license plates were stolen off of one of our vehicles. We live in Squirrell Hill which we were told by numerous people that it is a safe part of Pittsburgh. Now we are down to one car because we haven't lived here long enough to get PA drivers license's and you can't get plates until you have a PA drivers license.

I also don't understand why the locals love to give the newcomers wrong directions. My advice to a newcomer is BUY A GPS!!!!! Map quest and all of the others are completely worthless because it doesn't recognize that some of the streets turn into another street without you even making a turn. What's the deal with the street signs here, oh wait I mean what street signs, most of them are covered by tree branches or non existent or written in micro print! If anyone has any suggestions on how to get around this town I would love to here them, especially do direct routes from Squirrell Hill to Shadyside exist, or is it murray ave to forbes to this to that and then you arrive, please tell me this isn't my only option
I know I am going to get a lot of negative response to this but for as many people who told us all these great things about Pittsburgh we haven't experienced any of the positives yet. I really am trying to like it here but it is hard when people keep giving us the wrong directions and honking at you for driving the speed limit, one man even passed me on a residential street. HELP!! I really do want to enjoy my time here

[peanut33]

Hey- I'm sorry to hear you're not liking it in Pittsburgh My boyfriend and I just moved here about a week ago and have been doing alright so far. We got a GPS right away and it has SAVED us. I would be so lost without it. I definitely recommend purchasing one if you are able to. I take Shady Ave. between Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. I'm not sure if that is the fastest way for you, but that seems to work alright for us. Hope this helps a little. Let me know if there's anything I can help you with as a fellow newcomer

[dugdogmaster]

Pittsburgh is notoriously hard to navigate, until you get familiar with it. Go with the GPS! And there is no direct route to any destination anywhere in this city. As far as what happened to your vehicle, sorry about your luck, it'll get better.

[BrianTH]

The license plate thing is truly bizarre--sorry to hear that!

Anyway, navigation in Pittsburgh is indeed very confusing, and unfortunately a lot of the locals do in fact give less-than-helpful directions. The good news is you will eventually figure out what you are doing, and in the long run not only is the city compact, but there are frequently multiple ways to do the same thing, which means you can often avoid traffic.

By the way, the three main routes from Squirrel Hill to Shadyside are Wilkins to Fifth for the western part of Shadyside, Negley for the center of Shadyside, and Shady for the eastern part of Shadyside. Shady is the only of those routes to cut deep into the southern part of Squirrel Hill, so for the others, if you are coming up from the southern part you have to get to Wilkins first. My guess is that is what is causing all the confusion (the need to get to Wilkins, and then the three options at that point).

[Staash]

Originally Posted by juliempdx

We have been in Pittsburgh for almost two weeks now and I am hoping things will change for the better The first night we were here our license plates were stolen off of one of our vehicles. We live in Squirrell Hill which we were told by numerous people that it is a safe part of Pittsburgh. Now we are down to one car because we haven't lived here long enough to get PA drivers license's and you can't get plates until you have a PA drivers license.

I also don't understand why the locals love to give the newcomers wrong directions. My advice to a newcomer is BUY A GPS!!!!! Map quest and all of the others are completely worthless because it doesn't recognize that some of the streets turn into another street without you even making a turn. What's the deal with the street signs here, oh wait I mean what street signs, most of them are covered by tree branches or non existent or written in micro print! If anyone has any suggestions on how to get around this town I would love to here them, especially do direct routes from Squirrell Hill to Shadyside exist, or is it murray ave to forbes to this to that and then you arrive, please tell me this isn't my only option
I know I am going to get a lot of negative response to this but for as many people who told us all these great things about Pittsburgh we haven't experienced any of the positives yet. I really am trying to like it here but it is hard when people keep giving us the wrong directions and honking at you for driving the speed limit, one man even passed me on a residential street. HELP!! I really do want to enjoy my time here

Heh, I'm totally guilty of (unintentionally) giving bad directions and (intentionally) passing slow drivers on residential streets. Didn't steal your license plate though!

As far as Shadyside to Squirrel Hill, I prefer to take the long way (Beechview Boulevard), but the most straightforward route is probably Shady. If I'm in a rush, I'll use Wilkins and Negley, which for my money is the fastest route not involving side streets.

[Copanut]

I can't tell you how many times I've given directions and finished with the statement:

Once you get there, then ask someone how to get where you want to go. And God forbid you ask someone on your side of town to go OVER a bridge or Through a tunnel.

This area is tough, a GPS would help a lot. You might also want to pick up a map book, get the one that shows the Red Belt, Green Belt, Yellow Belt, and Orange Belt. As someone who traveled around the county pre-GPS days, those belts come in handy.

[juliempdx]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

The license plate thing is truly bizarre--sorry to hear that!

Anyway, navigation in Pittsburgh is indeed very confusing, and unfortunately a lot of the locals do in fact give less-than-helpful directions. The good news is you will eventually figure out what you are doing, and in the long run not only is the city compact, but there are frequently multiple ways to do the same thing, which means you can often avoid traffic.

By the way, the three main routes from Squirrel Hill to Shadyside are Wilkins to Fifth for the western part of Shadyside, Negley for the center of Shadyside, and Shady for the eastern part of Shadyside. Shady is the only of those routes to cut deep into the southern part of Squirrel Hill, so for the others, if you are coming up from the southern part you have to get to Wilkins first. My guess is that is what is causing all the confusion (the need to get to Wilkins, and then the three options at that point).

Thanks, we live off of greenfield ave, and I am working at UPMC shadyside. I'm currently taking the greenfield bridge into Schenly park and then going up Murray over to Forbes, etc, etc. I guess I need to find out how to get to Wilkins. I think I just might look into the GPS I get frustrated to easily just curious why no left hand turn signals instead of all of this yielding to oncoming traffic. It would seriously cut down on a lot of the traffic. Thanks for all the help

[likepgh]

Originally Posted by juliempdx

Thanks, we live off of greenfield ave, and I am working at UPMC shadyside. I'm currently taking the greenfield bridge into Schenly park and then going up Murray over to Forbes, etc, etc. I guess I need to find out how to get to Wilkins. I think I just might look into the GPS I get frustrated to easily just curious why no left hand turn signals instead of all of this yielding to oncoming traffic. It would seriously cut down on a lot of the traffic. Thanks for all the help

I suggest the following from your area: take Greenfield Bridge into the park and then turn right on Hobart, left on Beacon, and left again on Wightman; Wightman will run into Wilkins at the CVS (it actually continues on the other side of Wilkins as a smaller street); turn right on Wilkins and then left on Negley.

(Don't forget that you can also take the 64A to near UPMC Shadyside although whether that is convenient will depend on your work schedule and how far you are willing to walk at either end.)

I have found that Google Maps works better than Mapquest in Pittsburgh--and I like being able to look at unfamiliar routes on "Streetview." I've also done fine without a GPS, preferring the low-tech solution of two AAA maps--one in the house to look at before the trip and one in the glove compartment to look at if things go awry.

Another piece of advice: if you make a wrong turn in Pittsburgh, try to turn around and retrace your steps. Don't think "I'll just turn right here and go around the block." That works in places with grids; doesn't work here.

Take heart--you will know your way around soon and then will forget the names of the streets, and then you too can give bad directions just like a local.

I hope a frustrating few weeks doesn't sour you on Pittsburgh and that you have a chance to enjoy some of the good things once you get settled in.

[aveojohn]

Originally Posted by juliempdx

We have been in Pittsburgh for almost two weeks now and I am hoping things will change for the better The first night we were here our license plates were stolen off of one of our vehicles. We live in Squirrell Hill which we were told by numerous people that it is a safe part of Pittsburgh. Now we are down to one car because we haven't lived here long enough to get PA drivers license's and you can't get plates until you have a PA drivers license.

I also don't understand why the locals love to give the newcomers wrong directions. My advice to a newcomer is BUY A GPS!!!!! Map quest and all of the others are completely worthless because it doesn't recognize that some of the streets turn into another street without you even making a turn. What's the deal with the street signs here, oh wait I mean what street signs, most of them are covered by tree branches or non existent or written in micro print! If anyone has any suggestions on how to get around this town I would love to here them, especially do direct routes from Squirrell Hill to Shadyside exist, or is it murray ave to forbes to this to that and then you arrive, please tell me this isn't my only option
I know I am going to get a lot of negative response to this but for as many people who told us all these great things about Pittsburgh we haven't experienced any of the positives yet. I really am trying to like it here but it is hard when people keep giving us the wrong directions and honking at you for driving the speed limit, one man even passed me on a residential street. HELP!! I really do want to enjoy my time here

Welcome to Pittsburgh! You will be fine once you learn your way around. Gps is probably the way for you to go for now.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by likepgh

I suggest the following from your area: take Greenfield Bridge into the park and then turn right on Hobart, left on Beacon, and left again on Wightman; Wightman will run into Wilkins at the CVS (it actually continues on the other side of Wilkins as a smaller street); turn right on Wilkins and then left on Negley.

I agree with this general idea, but at the risk of compounding the OP's frustrations, I will offer a couple alternatives.

First, to get to Wightman, you can also go straight through the light in the park instead of turning onto Hobart, then left on Murdoch, right on Darlington, left onto Wightman. You can also take Hobart straight to Wightman. All three of these paths work about equally well in my experience.

Second, at Wightman and Wilkins you could turn left and take Wilkins to Fifth, do the hairpin turn onto Fifth heading east, and then make the left onto Aiken, which would take you straight to UMPC-Shadyside.

Finally, I also like Google Maps better than all the alternatives.