Pittsburgh Improves Road Safety With ‘Quick-Build’ Solutions

The Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure is improving safety on some of the city’s most dangerous roads through small, lower-cost interventions such as new sidewalks, speed humps, bump-outs at intersections, and other ‘quick-build’ traffic calming tools.

“Since the beginning of the year, the city has announced more than a dozen projects from Highland Park to Homewood and Mount Washington to improve safety for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians,” reports Ed Blazina in Pittsburgh Union Progress.

Other projects include parking restrictions near intersections, changes to traffic signals to prioritize pedestrians, and crosswalk improvements.

As Blazina explains, “In some cases, the quick steps are temporary and later replaced with permanent material, a process called “hardscaping.” Last week, crews were out on Negley Avenue at Bryant Street in Highland Park to make temporary curb bump-outs installed last year permanent and paint brighter wider crosswalks.”

The efforts are showing real results in neighborhoods such as Homewood. According to the city, “From 2021 to 2023, vehicle crashes are down 105% in the neighborhood, crashes with injuries are down 50%, and there have been no pedestrian or bicycle crashes.”