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Having moved to Pittsburgh from New York a few years ago I think the major difference (besides shear volume of drivers) is that traffic in Pittsburgh is completely predictable. It can be awful, it's true, but you know it's going to be bad during the morning and evening rush, during inclement weather, and anytime there is a major event going on in town. That's about it. But that's easy to plan around. In NY/NJ there is no planning. You can be driving along somewhere at 1am and all of the sudden you're unexpectedly caught in 2 hours of standstill or slow moving traffic because of rubbernecking at an accident that occurred 3 hours ago on the other side of the highway.
In NY/NJ there is no planning. You can be driving along somewhere at 1am and all of the sudden you're unexpectedly caught in 2 hours of standstill or slow moving traffic because of rubbernecking at an accident that occurred 3 hours ago on the other side of the highway.
I've noticed a lot of people post questions about moving, but then you never hear from them again. Well, I'm the original poster and thought I would provide an update for all of you.
Over two months ago, I requested several days of vacation from my current job for mid-April to make a trip to Pittsburgh to check out the area, start some in-person job networking and to enjoy some of the fun things to do as well (e.g. the Duquesne Incline and a Pirates game). Finally my trip to Pittsburgh is almost here, as I'll be there later next week!
I've really done a lot of research about the city online, and now I'm at the point I just need to see it and absorb as much as I can in a short amount of time. I have a pretty packed schedule lined up at this point. I'll check back in and share my observations and my experience there. I'm really looking forward to it!
Interstate 35 South - looking forward to reading about your visit (which I am hoping you will post) upon your return! I am following this post with interest as my husband and I are considering the area for relocation...
As a mountie (Mt. Washington resident), if you're doing the incline take the Monongahela Incline instead of the Duquesne Incline. At the top of the Duquesne Incline are some high end restaurants and an overlook, but not much else up there and the bottom of the incline is just a barren lot and place to transfer busses. The shop up top is neat, but overall the "Mon" Incline has more to do/see at the top and bottom.
The Monongahela Incline comes up from Station Square and is close to the Station Square "T" station from which you can take to the Pirates games. There is a little business district on Shiloh Street at the top that has a few shops and restaurants, as well as that section of Grandview Avenue having picturesque homes and overlooks every few hundred yards. From what it sounds like you're trying to do, parking at Station Square, doing the Monongahela Incline, and taking the "T" to the game might be your best best.
You also mentioned in an earlier post that you like Ice Cream, and there is an Ice Cream shop on Shiloh St. Also, if you go to the game from the Incline, when you leave you can ask for a CT which is essentially a FREE transfer to take the "T" (our light rail).
Interstate 35 South - looking forward to reading about your visit (which I am hoping you will post) upon your return! I am following this post with interest as my husband and I are considering the area for relocation...
Best wishes for a very productive trip!
I appreciate your thoughts!
I will definitely post back during and/or after my trip! I'm sure some of my viewpoints will be a little unique considering I have never lived nor even spent that much time in that part of the country. Road trips passing through don't count! Anyway, can't wait..I'll be there a week from today.
As a mountie (Mt. Washington resident), if you're doing the incline take the Monongahela Incline instead of the Duquesne Incline. At the top of the Duquesne Incline are some high end restaurants and an overlook, but not much else up there and the bottom of the incline is just a barren lot and place to transfer busses. The shop up top is neat, but overall the "Mon" Incline has more to do/see at the top and bottom.
The Monongahela Incline comes up from Station Square and is close to the Station Square "T" station from which you can take to the Pirates games. There is a little business district on Shiloh Street at the top that has a few shops and restaurants, as well as that section of Grandview Avenue having picturesque homes and overlooks every few hundred yards. From what it sounds like you're trying to do, parking at Station Square, doing the Monongahela Incline, and taking the "T" to the game might be your best best.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lprmesia
You also mentioned in an earlier post that you like Ice Cream, and there is an Ice Cream shop on Shiloh St. Also, if you go to the game from the Incline, when you leave you can ask for a CT which is essentially a FREE transfer to take the "T" (our light rail).
I really appreciate your advice. Online I saw there were two separate Inclines, and based on pictures alone I thought the view from the top of the Duquesne Incline might be a little better. I'm sure the views are both great though! I noticed the dirt parking lot on Google Earth for the Duquesne Incline and it certainly looks more developed at the base of the Monongahela Incline. I think I"ll have to do that (Monongahela) instead.
Also, I didn't know you could ride the T from there to the game. Per the Pirates website, if you're coming from the south (I'm staying near Washington) they recommend parking downtown in one of the garages and crossing one of the bridges on foot. I haven't decided which game I'm going to go to as I'm waiting until a few days before the game to make sure I don't get a ticket when there is rain forecasted, but the T could be useful if I go to the Fri. night game with traffic. Otherwise I'll do the Sat afternoon or Sunday afternoon game. The layout of the downtown streets and ramps to freeways looks a little squirrely for someone like me who isn't familar with the area for sure.
...on Waze I saw there was an accident somewhere on I-376 near the Squirrel Hill Tunnel (I think you guys call it "Parkway East") and that traffic was at a standstill. The other tunnel on I-376 going west from downtown also appeared to be slow-moving.
From what I can discern from Waze and Googlemaps traffic, these stretches on I-376 seem to be problematic in general. That road appears to be two lanes in each direction which would be extremely inadequate, but at the same time there doesn't appear to be any room to widen it (and particularly with the tunnels!).
The problem isn't a lack of room to widen I-376. The problem is that PennDOT has no balls. Yeah, it'd be expensive, but if MoDOT can spend $1B to reconstruct I-64 in St. Louis to modern Interstate standards despite being hemmed in by development, then PennDOT ought to be able to do the same for a highway in a similarly-sized metropolitan area. They don't even have to do it all at once; just do the Parkway West first and worry the Parkway East later. The only real traffic hotspot on the Parkway East is about two miles on either side of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. On the other hand, the entire Parkway West from the Fort Pitt Tunnel to the U.S. 22/U.S. 30 split is pretty much slammed as long as the sun is up, so it really does need to be widened to six or eight lanes. (Widening to 10 or more lanes would be overkill, though.)
Update:
So I visited the Pittsburgh area over the weekend of 4/18-4/19 and really enjoyed my trip. Thanks to having to go back to work early Tuesday morning after a 12-hour drive last Monday, I haven’t had a chance to post about my trip until now.
I want to say that I had a really good trip and really liked what I saw. Some of my observations may come off as a little controversial, but keep in mind I’m going to have a different perspective than many of you since I come from an entirely different part of the country. I hope that my observations will help provide some perspective for others like myself who are interested in moving there.
EXPLORATION: I found that there is simply no way that one can explore an entire city in the course of three days. I did a lot of driving around, and there remained large swaths of the city that I never saw such as the eastern suburbs (i.e. Monroeville/Plum,etc.). In addition to downtown and the inner neighborhoods, I did see a lot ofthe northern and southern suburbs.
HOUSING: Coming from the Sunbelt states where newer housing is relatively common, I immediately noticed the housing stock was much older than I’m accustomed to seeing. Now there were newer subdivisions in areas around Canonsburg and Cranberry, but they seemed to be the large McMansion-type houses that would likely sell for $500K or more. I was left wondering how people can afford those areas, particularly as the property tax rates are somewhat high compared to other places (based on my research).
I didn’t really see any medium-sized newer housing, but I’m sure I probably just missed it as one can’t see an entire city in just a few days. I have to say that personally the inner neighborhoods around downtown weren’t doing it for me, but that is because of personal preference – they’re just not my cup of tea. They would be cool for lots of other people. From reading the forums I see a lot of disdain for suburban areas but that is exactly the kind of area I prefer. I support anyone who wants to live in the city but that’s just not me.
On a side note, the residential streets in the suburbs seemed narrow to me, and sidewalks seemed to be the exception rather than the rule. Many streets there do not have sidewalks at all.
TRAFFIC: The inbound Parkway West (I-376) was actually closed for repaving while I was there, so I had to navigate around it to get to downtown. I took Route 19 the McMurray area late Saturday afternoon, and it seemed like it took forever to get downtown. GPS was a must for finding alternate routes!
On Friday afternoon around 5pm, I found myself heading from the Robinson area (I-376/US 22) down to the Meadowlands Casino near Washington via I-79 and that took about 45 minutes. I wouldn’t have called the traffic awful, but it definitely wasn’t much fun either. Outside of that time, I didn’t have any problem with traffic backups around the city. I did find that the system of freeways and ramps around downtown can be a little confusing, and more than once I ended up on the wrong road despite my best efforts.
SALES TAX: There’s no sales tax on food or clothing there!…very cool.
RECREATION: I got my road bike out on the back roads between Canonsburg and McDonald one morning and the back roads of McMurray on another and wow, these roads are narrow! My legs were officially cooked from climbing all those hills! While driving around the city, I felt like the neighborhoods near downtown did not look bike friendly at all. I know there are some bike routes here and there per Google maps, but I really didn’t see them.
I also took a side trip to Ohiopyle on Saturday morning and did a 4 mile hike to Baughman Rock and back. I could definitely get used to being within 90 minutes of some good hiking trails like that on a weekend day!
I hit a Pirates game on Sunday afternoon, and despite wearing my navy blue KC Royals jersey which stuck out like a sore thumb I did not get any comments from other fans. I found $5 parking downtown and the walk across the bridge was easy!
PEOPLE: Granted this is over just a long weekend and your mileage may vary, but I found people to be pretty courteous in public as well as on the roads. I was expecting more aggressive drivers you are much closer to the East Coast, but I found that not to be the case. It was much more like the Midwest. I had three different people ask me to take their friend/family pics on top of Mt. Washington overlooking the city. Maybe I’m just an approachable guy!
It did seem like I saw a lot more smokers than I normally see around here. This varies from region to region and maybe it was due to the areas I visited, but it was noticeable.
ROADS: They are definitely different. Many roads were one lane each way compared to wide roads with two or three lanes on each side where I’m from. And many of them are very narrow and winding. Some roads seemed to have a lot of either open or filled potholes in the asphalt making for a choppy ride. I realize that anywhere with snowy winters get like this (go to MN or MI and you’ll find bumpy roads there too), so that’s just life.
When the roads get slick, how do people not slam into each other with those steep hills coupled with intersections?!?!
What I didn’t get is why the freeways are all 55mph (Washington to Cranberry, the Parkway West and North)?! That’s incredibly slow, and to actually go that speed would be a hazard as everyone seemed to be doing 65 to 75. Is this just a way to raise revenue in the area?
I have managed to type a novel so I’m going to leave it here even though I had many other observations on the area.
I’m very interested in moving there, but the biggest barrier is likely going to be landing a job before actually moving there. I just can’t take a risk of quitting my job now and moving blindly. I'm going to attempt the job search from here and see what happens...
Thanks for reading and any positive comments are welcome.
Last edited by Interstate 35 South; 04-26-2015 at 01:45 PM..
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Update / Upcoming Trip
Also, if you go to the game from the Incline, when you leave you can ask for a CT which is essentially a FREE transfer to take the "T" (our light rail).
