Squirrel Hill tunnel (Pittsburgh, Oakland: houses, good schools, standard of living)

[PeterRabbit]

^ What are you counting as a route?

[xburgher]

376 and 279. Only highways in to the city from the east, north and west, as well as the south.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by xburgher

376 and 279. Only highways in to the city from the east, north and west, as well as the south.

Not true, you have Route 380, also known as Bigelow Blvd. There are also many other "routes" you can take without clogging the interstates, like Center Ave, Penn Ave, Fifth Ave, etc.

[PeterRabbit]

Rt. 28 doesn't count as a route? Why? Because you don't know what you're talking about? Allegheny River Blvd.

[Copanut]

Don't forget Route 65 from the North aka Ohio River Boulevard.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by PeterRabbit

Rt. 28 doesn't count as a route? Why? Because you don't know what you're talking about? Allegheny River Blvd.

If you are speaking to me, I forgot 28

[mjost7]

I agree that public transportation might be more efficient. I also understand how it is easy to blame drivers for the lower capacity of tunnels, but it is human nature to drive with more space in front of you in tunnels. Blaming the drivers is kind of like saying people are stupid for not growing wings and flying to their destinations instead of driving.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by mjost7

I agree that public transportation might be more efficient. I also understand how it is easy to blame drivers for the lower capacity of tunnels, but it is human nature to drive with more space in front of you in tunnels. Blaming the drivers is kind of like saying people are stupid for not growing wings and flying to their destinations instead of driving.

Well who are you supposed to blame? I have followed many people through, with no one in front of them, and they sporadically apply their brakes, for no reason. It's real easy, keep your foot off the brake pedal. I've drove over 100 mph through the each of the tunnels late at night with no problem at all.

While driving to work in the South Hills in the morning, I see all the people waiting on Banksville Road to get on to 279. It is a shame that more people don't use the bus and or train. There is no reason I would sit in that five days a week.

[mjost7]

I know what you mean. I too have gone fast in the Squirrel Hill tunnels late at night with little traffic on the highway. The "blame" is on those who planed/designed/funded the Squirrel Hill tunnels years ago. I wish I could explain this better, but for whatever reason, when a travel lane has no space beside it (a shoulder) drivers need more space between cars. It's not that we can't drive fast through the tunnels when there's nobody else around, it's that the tunnel can't handle all the cars, the same way a too-small pipe or hose can't, for example, drain a large swimming pool as fast as a big one can.

But I also agree with you a little bit. If all drivers were, say, the best professional race car drivers and all drove the best cars, then the tunnels would probably handle more traffic, albeit less than the open freeway.

I'd also like better public transportation in Pittsburgh. A transit tunnel for busses under Oakland would be nice. I've heard this idea from a friend. They could use low emission natural gas busses and save on travel time.

[Awesomo.2000]

Originally Posted by xburgher

Considering it is one of the only 3 highway routes into the city and no by-pass what-so-ever what do you expect?

You do realize that Pittsburgh has one of the oldest highway structures on this earth? How is a by-pass going to be built? One, the topography is very old, and two, we would have to blast through old neighborhoods to build a by-pass. I can see suburbinites loving a new highways struture that blows through city neighborhoods so they can get to their strip malls quicker, but as a city lover it would be terrible. Look at how 279 just split the North Side, but it helped us create the hellhole of Wexford........

Pittsburgh isn't the same as Atlanta, Charlotte, or Phoenix. We didn't sprawl well after 1980, and have all the room in the world to build a nice 5 lane by-pass system around our town. For this metro to grow and prosper we need rail lines. We need to utilize the old rail lines along the rivers, and we need to concentrate on TOD development which would be perfect for the towns along the rivers.