Walkability then, walkability now?
From: Transit: A Part of the Pittsburgh Plan. Report #3 of the Citizens' Committee on City Plan, September 1923
addendum: same illustration to capture legend
posted by C. Briem at Wednesday, January 23, 2013
8 Comments:
I love this map.
Was hiking out my way and met three old codgers (late-70s) who told stories of growing up playing ball where the street car turned around in Emsworth, where the Shop 'N Save used to be.
Great Blog. Good map. I read somewhere that by the early 20th century you could ride from the Atlantic Ocean to about Milwaukee on interurban electric railways. What your map doesn't show is the interurban line to Washington PA. The only part left is the Arden trolly museum. I would bet there were similar connections to the east and north of Pittsburgh.
But that was the days before automobiles, or quite as many of them, a different "then and there"
Nice map. What do the two different shades mean? Also, what do they mean by "car lines." Is that bus and rail or were those all rail?
Awesome map, if a bit heartbreaking.
Incidentally, I am pretty sure that is all streetcar, given the note at the bottom and my understanding of transit history in Pittsburgh.
@MH: Pink & green seem to represent respectively approximately 1/4-mile and 1/2-mile on level ground, or equivalent (by walking time?) on a grade.
& car-line I believe is just shorthand for streetcar-line, i.e., in-road rail.
Good eye. That's what the legend says.
Car lines in Pittsburgh generally means street cars; the only true inter-urban (light rail) Pittsburgh Railways line was the Pittsburgh, Charleroi, and Washington Street Railway line - though many of the suburban routes ran at least partly on their own rights-of-way.
West Penn Power out of Greensburg ran a whole slew of inter-urban lines throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania, and Southeastern Ohio was even more full of them than Pa.
Generally, the inter-urbans were profitable until the early twenties, but ridership declined thereafter. Many of the inter-urban lines were flooded in the years 1936 and 1937 and not rebuilt. Others lasted until the early fifties.
West Penn lines were highly regarded as well-run, and their demise was mourned, but the economics were just not there.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home