4 ms·
Pittsburgh also has a lot of underdeveloped waterfront real estate and still has room to develop in a lot of areas within an hour (or closer) drive of downtown.
by mcgrath_sh 9y ago
Pittsburgh also has a lot of underdeveloped waterfront real estate and still has room to develop in a lot of areas within an hour (or closer) drive of downtown. Over the last 20 years, a lot of areas that used to be mills (all along the waterfronts) have become entertainment areas (restaurants, movie theaters, shops, and bars) with mid-sized apartment buildings or town houses that are in close proximity to them. Over the last 5 years, it has become more popular to live in downtown proper too. There are a lot of areas that have gone from being not very populated to places people want to live with great school districts. The one thing I wish we would fix would be public transportation. Unless you are trying to get downtown, public transit is essentially useless, especially when trying to get to the other side of the city. There are very few bus routes that run late at night and the rail system essentially only services those who live in the South Hills.
- graphitezepp 9y agoGetting around by bus is both inconvenient and expensive, public transit needs more funding here.
- CydeWeys 9y agoHow's the bike infrastructure? I get around pretty much everywhere in Manhattan and Brooklyn by bike; I only take public transit a few times per month. Also, I imagine the winters there can be harsh.
- graphitezepp 9y agoAs much as I love it here, we got our share of problems. Winter is rough and so is the biking situation, due to bridge related reasons. However the city is very good at dealing with the bad weather and the current powers that be have been doing a lot to make infrastructure more bike friendly.
- CydeWeys 9y agoWhat are the bridge-related issues? You appear to have a lot more bridges than Manhattan<->Brooklyn, which is nice. Is it the lack of proper bike lanes on the bridges?
- graphitezepp 9y agoYes. The incredible amount of bridges (most anywhere) makes it so a lot of roadways, be it the bridges themselves or just general weirdness begat from building roads in a river valley, are super not safe for bikers.
- dgacmu 9y agoI have a biased view on this (I briefly biked competitively), so take it with a mild grain of salt, but it's pretty much fine if you can be an assertive cyclist. Some of the bridges you have to be very assertive about owning your lane -- particularly the highland park bridge, to get to areas north/northeast of the city. From downtown to the north side, there are several bike-friendly bridges: The Clemente, Warhol, and Rachel Carson bridges all have sidewalks. To the south side, the Smithfield bridge has a very large (and very popular) sidewalk, and the newly renovated Hot Metal bridge has a dedicated bike span.
- dgacmu 9y agoIt's solid and improving. We're a one car family (two working parents and a young child). We put maybe 2500 miles per year on our car, much of that on longer trips out of the city. Between walking, biking, and public transit, it's good. Having some kind of car available is still more useful than I wish it was, though.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]