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Pressure from residents spurred the city to move on changes to make a Squirrel Hill traffic-logged intersection safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.
The city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure is working on a redesign for the intersection of Wightman Street and Darlington Road, which has been taking in additional traffic since the Panther Hollow Bridge in Oakland was closed due to safety concerns in the fall.
City officials decided to move forward with work on a redesign because residents have been asking for changes, said City Council member Barb Warwick, whose District 5 includes Squirrel Hill.
“There’s been consistent requests from the residents on Darlington due to the traffic congestion from the bridge closure,” Warwick said.
The city announced the safety measures following a story by Next Generation Newsroom that examined neighborhood traffic impacts resulting from the Panther Hollow Bridge closure.
The closure of the Panther Hollow and Charles Anderson Memorial bridges, which carry traffic between Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood and the east end of the city, has forced drivers to use alternative routes. Wightman Street, a major thoroughfare in Squirrel Hill, has since seen a rise in vehicle traffic, which has concerned some residents.
“The Wightman at Darlington intersection has been a community-requested site and candidate for such improvements for some time,” Jacob Williams, press officer for the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, wrote in an email.
He said city officials analyzed the crash history and complaints made to 311, the city’s non-emergency line for residents to submit questions or concerns.
The intersection is also within the city’s "high injury network,” or roadways where most traffic accidents happen.
“It’s a significant bike route and a difficult street to cross,” said Rich Feder, co-chair of the pedestrian and bicycle committee for the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition.
He said the effort to get the intersection redesigned is the result of a grassroots effort by residents.
“It came about organically because of very significant issues that people could see ... all of the bridge closings following each other and the traffic became unbearable,” he said.
Squirrel Hill resident Chris Zurawsky led the effort to get the city’s attention about the issues with the intersection, Feder said.
Zurawsky said that he and other community members got the city’s attention about the intersection in February during a mayoral forum at Chatham University. Zurawsky said he talked to an official from the mayor’s office and later sent him pictures and emails regarding his concerns.
“I think that kind of got the ball rolling,” he said.
Williams and Warwick said that the city doesn’t know exactly what the changes to the intersection will look like, but it may feature traffic calming measures similar to those installed a block away at the intersection of Wightman and Bartlett. Those measures include flex posts on corners which require cars to slow down and a new paint pattern to better direct the flow of traffic.
Warwick said she hopes that the project will begin either in the spring or summer of this year. A firm timeline was not available.
More details about the plan will be released as the project progresses into the design phase, Williams said.
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