North, South, East and West

[highway29south]

Originally Posted by COPANUT

If by West you mean Moon township or Robinson, the way I would go to the South Hills is either taking 79 South and getting off at Kirwan Heights, or take the parkway and get off at the Carnegie or Greentree exit. What part of the South Hills are you trying to get to?

By south hills I mean Brentwood. As long as I have lived here, I've never found an easy way to get to that area!

I do know many back roads but the time it takes to navigate them compared to the highway always seems about the same to me. I usually take Steubenville Pike into town, but then again the same issue with construction in the West End. It just never seems to end here in the 'burgh!

[Geeo]

A beltway was never feasible around Pittsburgh for the reasons already mentioned: mainly the topography. Also, it would have mostly paralleled the turnpike in the north and 79 in the west, so it would have been redundent. But I think the cost of cutting more tunnels through the hills and valleys and leveling entire neighborhoods would have made it prohibitively expensive.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

I think that would have been the beltway system. We have red belt yellow belt and blue belts -- and they were supposed to make things easier but then they got developed all around and it sort of made things worse.

U.S. Markers: Belt Route System

The Belts work great! I've been using them for way too many years. My house is located about .5 miles off the yellow belt, I always use that when giving directions. I have a large wall map that shows all of them, it was actually a pretty good idea. Although with the new GPS systems, it will probably become outdated. Little known geek fact: Back in the olden times, 60's-70's, the guide rails used to be made of wooden posts and steel cable. The posts were painted bright white and the tops of the posts were painted whatever color of belt you were on. So if you didn't see a sign for awhile, the painted posts would let you know you were still on the belt.

Originally Posted by highway29south

By south hills I mean Brentwood. As long as I have lived here, I've never found an easy way to get to that area!

I do know many back roads but the time it takes to navigate them compared to the highway always seems about the same to me. I usually take Steubenville Pike into town, but then again the same issue with construction in the West End. It just never seems to end here in the 'burgh!

Brentwood, yeah you're screwed. I'd still snake my way through Mt. Lebo and Castle Shannon to avoid Rte. 51.

I live in the North but my longtime dentist has an office in Brentwood. I don't care what time of day it is, it's always at least an hour to get there, no shortcut, have to take 51. I usually go at night and instead of pain pills he takes me out for a beer.

[pittsburgh-guy]

North Hills > 279 South > 579 South > Blvd of the Allies > 376 East > East Hills
North Hills > 279 South > 579 South > Liberty Bridge > Tubes > South Hills
North Hills > 279 South > Ft. Duquesne Bridge > Ft. Pitt Bridge > Ft. Pitt Tunnels > West Hills

I've never had trouble going through town to get from one side of the city to another (unless we're talking about rush hour)

The only "backroads" shortcut I ever take is to get from the north hills to penn hills/verona, and i go through shaler, millvale, etc. and over the 62nd st. bridge. Other than that I take the parkways as much as possible.

(In case you can't tell, I live in the north hills)