The photo above shows the
southern portals of the Liberty Tunnels, at the intersection of
West Liberty Avenue and Saw Mill Run Boulevard, in 1930. This heavily
trafficked intersection was deemed one of the ten deadliest roadways
in the City of Pittsburgh by the Bureau of Traffic Planning. This
was a time when increasing automobile, street car and pedestrian
traffic combined to create a lethal mix, and fatal accidents were
becoming a serious problem.
From July 6 to July 15, 1930,
the Pittsburgh Press ran a series of photos showing the traffic
sectors deemed to be the worst in the city. This was the beginning
of a city-wide effort to initiate the necessary adjustments to make
these roadways safer for all forms of traffic.
Below is a Pittsburgh Press
article that appeared on July 6, 1930. It was published on the first
day of the series, accompanied by a picture of the intersection of
Grant Street and the Boulevard of the Allies. The article is followed
by photos of the most deadly streets in Pittsburgh.
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Death Sectors In
City Marked By 265 Killings
Ten Fatal Stretches
Listed As Danger Warning To Drivers
Reckless Speeding
And Parking
Police Redouble
Vigilance To Prevent Accidents Over Weekend
1929
(12 months), Killed - 180, Injured - 5100.
1930
(to date), Killed - 97, Injured - 2818.
Ten street sectors, named by
the Better Traffic Committee and the Bureau of Traffic Planning as
the most dangerous in Pittsburgh, were listed Saturday as a warning
to reckless drivers, while police increased their vigilance in the
hope of reducing the usual weekend list of traffic casualties.
Lewis W. McIntyre, engineer
of the Bureau of Traffic Planning and Frank L. Duggan, chairman of
the Better Traffic Committee, combined in offering suggestions to
eliminate casualties on the ten "death stretches."
A total of 265 men, women and
children have met death in these ten deadly street sectors in seven
years.
The menace that overhangs the
man or woman who must walk across streets where autos speed was
emphasized by the fact that 190 of the dead were pedestrians.
Three Causes
Branded
Three general causes that have
branded these streets as death traps overruled all others:
Speeding.
Reckless driving.
Too much parking.
One general recommendation
by the experts covered all ten vicinities:
Enforcement of existing
traffic laws
There were specific
recommendations applicable to each spot, but the thought that stern
enforcement of ordinances already on the books would do much to
remedy each local situation was uppermost.
The Traffic Safety Observers,
a band of 500 citizen volunteers working with the Better Traffic
Committee, to report traffic violations, reported real progress
in June.
Rush Work For
Safety
The Department of Public
Works proceeded with rush plans for strengthening the fences and
curbs on the boulevards which run along the edge of the city's
precipices.
After making use of the
$50,000 appropriated by Council this week, the Department of
Public Works may find it advisable to ask for an additional
$100,000, according to Thomas M. Reed, superintendent of
engineering.
Bids will be opened July 17
on construction of 4,000 feet of fence on the outer rim of the
Boulevard of the Allies in the vicinity of Gist Street, where the
death of a woman and her husband when a car crashed the fence a week
ago dramatized the city's traffic peril. The work is expected to
begin before August 1.
New bids have been asked for
1,200 feet of fence on each side of the boulevard along the Forbes
Street viaduct. A concrete surface will be laid down on this part
of the boulevard in place of the asphalt covering.
Street Will
Be Closed
The thoroughfare will be
closed to inbound traffic Monday at 9pm while work proceeds night
and day. Twelve inches more will be added to the curb. The work is
expected to be done by July 19. The Welsh Construction Company has
the $15,000 contract for the surface and curb.
Plans of the department
include 2,500 feet of fence along Bigelow Boulevard from
Twenty-eighth Street to Kirkpatrick Street, and a guard curb and
cable fence along the "death curve" in Mansfield Avenue. Still
later plans call for fences and curbs along Boggs Avenue and the
Mount Washington Boulevard.
The intersection of the Boulevard
of the Allies and Grant Street was one of the most dangerous
in the city of Pittsburgh.
Ten "Death
Points"
The ten worst traffic
stretches, the total of fatalities at each in the seven years
covered by the survey and the number of pedestrian fatalities,
are:
East Carson Street from the
Smithfield Street Bridge to Beck's Run Road: 49 dead, 37 pedestrians.
The worst point is at the foot of Castle Shannon Incline where nine
were killed.
Bigelow Boulevard from
Seventh Avenue to Craig Street; 34 dead, 16 pedestrians. The worst
points are at the Bloomfield Bridge (five dead), Herron Avenue
(six dead) and Seventh Avenue (six dead).
East Ohio Street from
Federal Street to the city line: 34 dead, 19 pedestrian. The worst
point is at Walker's Bridge where ten were killed.
East Street from Perrysville
Avenue to North Avenue: 30 dead, 18 pedestrians. The worst point
is at Howard Street with four dead.
Where 25
Were Killed
West Carson Street from
Steuben Street to the Smithfield Street Bridge: 25 dead,
16 pedestrians. The worst points are at the foot of the Duquesne
Incline (six dead) and at South Main Street (four dead).
Boulevard of the Allies
from Grant Street to Craft Avenue: 23 dead, 17 pedestrians. The
worst points are at Grant Street (four pedestrians dead) and
Twenty-second Street (three pedestrians killed). The experts
recommend that this boulevard should have at least six traffic lanes.
Although parking is banned, bad parking conditions are found along
the boulevard, traffic engineers say.
Baum Boulevard from Craig
Street to Whitfield Street: 17 dead, 13 pedestrians. The traffic
engineers recommend there should be no parking along this stretch
24 hours a day.
Fifth Avenue from Fernando
Street to Dinwiddie Street: 17 dead, all pedestrians, one of whom
was killed by a street car. The worst point is at Dinwiddie
Street.
Parking Fatal
to 16
The report of the engineers
noted that parking, obstructing the view of motorists and pedestrians,
was largely the cause of the seventeen deaths.
Forbes Street, between
Hooper and Van Brahm Streets: 16 dead, 12 pedestrians. The worst
points are at Magee Street (four dead) and Marion Street (four
dead).
Center Avenue from
Protectory Place to Addison Street. Fourteen were killed in these
six blocks, all pedestrians, one of whom was killed by a street
car.
West Liberty Avenue from
the Liberty Tubes to Capital Avenue: six dead, five pedestrians.
The worst points are at Capital Avenue and the Liberty Tubes.
The engineers note that this stretch is just becoming
serious.
1,150
Die in Crashes
From January 1, 1923, to
June 1, 1930, a total of 1,152 persons were killed in traffic,
according to figures analyzed by the Bureau of Traffic Planning.
Of this total, 377 were occupants of autos; 494 were classed
as jaywalkers and 281 were pedestrians who had the right of
way.
For the first five months
of 1930, a total of 78 persons were killed, as contrasted to 69
in the same period of 1929. For the first six months of 1930,
a total of 112 were killed, as against 77 in the same period of
1929.
For the year ended June 1,
1930, a total of 189 were killed, as against 164 for the year
ending June 1, 1929.
Vehicle accidents like this one, in 1930,
prompted the city to install crash-proof rails along the Boulevard of the
Allies.
Motorists
Half to Blame
McIntyre estimates that
57.1 percent of all fatalities are the fault of motorists.
The Traffic Safety Observers
called upon their volunteers to dedicate July to reporting violators
of "the two most necessary safe driving rules," left side of street
car and wrong side of street.
One observer made twenty-one
reports during June. Drivers who failed to stop for a red light
led the list of offenders reported. Reckless driving, speeding and
passing a street car on the left were the next in order.
Duggan announced the
appointment of A.W. Smith, Jr., as chairman of the enforcement
sub-committee of the Better Traffic Committee. Smith succeeds
McIntyre, who resigned his chairmanship on assuming his duties
with the Bureau of Traffic Planning.
At an organization meeting
Thursday, the committee will again consider the abolition of parking
downtown and a proposal that the city own and operate two tow trucks
to remove illegally parked cars.
Below are Photos of the other
Eight Deadliest Streets in Pittsburgh - 1930
Click on images
for a larger view |