Wikipedia

Downtown Pittsburgh

Downtown Pittsburgh,colloquially referred to as theGolden Triangle,and officially theCentral Business District,[2]is the urban downtown center ofPittsburgh,Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the confluence of theAllegheny Riverand theMonongahela Riverwhose joining forms theOhio River.The triangle is bounded by the two rivers.

Downtown
Central Business District; Golden Triangle
Neighborhood
Downtown Pittsburgh as seen from Mount Washington
Downtown Pittsburgh as seen fromMount Washington
Location of Downtown Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh
Location of Downtown Pittsburgh inPittsburgh
Coordinates:40°26′28″N80°00′00″W/ 40.44111°N 80.00000°W/40.44111; -80.00000
CountryUnited States
StatePennsylvania
CountyAllegheny County
CityPittsburgh
Area
[2][better source needed]
• Total
0.64 sq mi (1.7 km2)
Population
(2020)[2]
• Total
5,477[1]

The area features offices for major corporations such asPNC Bank,U.S. Steel,PPG,Bank of New York Mellon,Heinz,Federated Investors,andAlcoa.It is where the fortunes of such industrial barons asAndrew Carnegie,Henry Clay Frick,Henry J. Heinz,Andrew MellonandGeorge Westinghousewere made. It contains the site where the French fort,Fort Duquesne,once stood.

Historical population
YearPop.±%
19407,864—
19507,517−4.4%
19602,211−70.6%
19703,679+66.4%
19803,220−12.5%
19903,785+17.5%
20002,721−28.1%
20103,629+33.4%
20205,477+50.9%
[3][4][better source needed]
Source: University of Pittsburgh[5]

Location

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The Central Business District is bounded by theMonongahela Riverto the south, theAllegheny Riverto the north, andI-579 (Crosstown Boulevard)to the east. An expanded definition of Downtown may include the adjacent neighborhoods ofUptown/The Bluff,theStrip District,theNorth Shore,and theSouth Shore.

Transportation

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The Smithfield Street Bridge
Famed mural on the 300 Sixth Street building

Public transportation

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Downtown is served by thePort Authority'slight railsubway system (known locally as the "T" ), an extensive bus network, and twoinclines(Duquesne InclineandMonongahela Incline). The Downtown portion of the subway has the following stations:

T Stations

  • Station Squareon the South Shore in theStation Squaredevelopment (street-level station)
  • First Avenuenear First Avenue & Ross Street, Downtown (elevated station)
  • Steel Plazaat Sixth Avenue & Grant Street, Downtown (underground station)
  • Penn Plazanear Liberty Avenue & Grant Street, Downtown (underground, limited service)
  • Wood Streetat the triangular intersection of Wood Street, Sixth Avenue, and Liberty Avenue, Downtown (underground station)
  • Gateway Centerat Liberty Avenue & Stanwix Street, Downtown (underground station)
  • North Sidenear General Robinson Street & Tony Dorsett Drive on the North Shore (underground station)
  • Alleghenynear Allegheny Avenue & Reedsdale Street on the North Shore (elevated station)

Downtown is also home to thePittsburghAmtraktrain station connecting Pittsburgh with New York City,Philadelphia,and Washington, D.C. to the east andClevelandand Chicago to the west.Greyhound's Pittsburgh bus terminal is located across Liberty Avenue from the Amtrak Station, in the Grant Street Transportation Center building.

Highways

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Major roadways serving Downtown from the suburbs include the "Parkway East" (I-376) fromMonroeville,the "Parkway West" (I-376) from theairportarea, and the "Parkway North" (I-279) from theNorth Hills,and (I-579) in Downtown Pittsburgh. Other important roadways arePennsylvania Route 28,Pennsylvania Route 51,Pennsylvania Route 65,andU.S. Route 19.

Three major entrances to the city are via tunnels: theFort Pitt TunnelandSquirrel Hill TunnelonI-376and theLiberty Tunnels.The New York Timesonce called Pittsburgh "the only city with an entrance,"[6]specifically referring to the view of Downtown that explodes upon drivers immediately upon exiting the Fort Pitt Tunnel. Also travelingI-279south andI-376,the city "explodes into view" when coming around a turn in the highway.

Local streets

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Wood Street

Downtown surface streets are based on two distinct grid systems that parallel theAlleghenyandMonongahelarivers.[7]These two grids intersect along Liberty Avenue, creating many unusual street intersections. Furthermore, the Allegheny grid contains numbered streets, while the Monongahela grid contains numbered avenues. And, in fact, there are cases where these numbered roadways intersect, creating some confusion (i.e. the intersection of Liberty Avenue and 7th Street/6th Avenue). This unusual grid pattern leads to Pittsburghers giving directions in the terms of landmarks, rather than turn-by-turn directions.[7]

Bridges

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Main article:Pittsburgh Bridges
At least seventeen of Pittsburgh's bridges are visible in this aerial photo

Pittsburgh is nicknamed "The City of Bridges". In Downtown, there are 10 bridges (listed below) connecting to points north and south. The expanded definition of Downtown (including the aforementioned surrounding neighborhoods) includes 18 bridges. Citywide there are 446 bridges. In Allegheny County the number exceeds 2,200.

Downtown Bridges

Sixth Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh

Bridges of Expanded Downtown

Downtown districts

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Downtown contains a wealth of historic, cultural, and entertainment sites. While most people still consider the entire Downtown as one neighborhood, there are several significant subdistricts within the Golden Triangle.

Economy

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Pittsburgh's number of jobs is generally stable.

Downtown Pittsburgh retains substantial economic influence, ranking at 25th in the nation for jobs within the urban core and 6th in job density.[9]

University of Pittsburgheconomist Christopher Briem notes that the level of employment in the city has remained largely constant for the past 50 years: "[the] time series of jobs located in the City proper are about as stable as any economic metric in the region, or in any other Northeastern US urban core, over many decades. In 1958, [there were] 294,000 jobs located in the city proper...Those numbers are virtually identical today which tells me there is a certain limit to how many jobs can efficiently be located in what are some relatively (very) constrained areas."[10][better source needed]These numbers reflect employment in the city as a whole, not just the central business district; but the central business district has the highest density of employment of any Pittsburgh neighborhood.

Pittsburgh has long been a headquarters city, with numerous national and global corporations calling the Golden Triangle home. Currently, Downtown is still home to a large number ofFortune 500companies (7 in the metro area, 5 of which are in the city in 2022, which ranks Pittsburgh high nationally in Fortune 500 headquarters):

– co-headquartered inPPG Place

– headquartered in theTower at PNC Plaza

– headquartered inPPG Place

– headquartered atStation Square

– headquartered at theUS Steel Tower

Downtown is also home toGNC,Dollar Bank,Equitable Resources,Duquesne Light,Federated InvestorsandHighmarkas well as the regional headquarters forCitizens Bank,Ariba,andDominion Resources.Regional healthcare giantUPMChas its corporate headquarters in theUS Steel Tower.

Major buildings

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See also:List of tallest buildings in Pittsburgh
The sweeping roofline of theDavid L. Lawrence Convention Centeron theAllegheny River

Parks and plazas

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Market Square

Downtown is home to numerous parks, large and small:

Educational facilities

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While Pittsburgh'sOaklandneighborhood is known as the educational center of the city, Downtown is home to several higher education institutions as well as a branch of the city'sCarnegie Librarysystem and aPittsburgh Public Schools6–12 school:

Residential areas

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Downtown has several condos, including Gateway Towers and Chatham Place dating to the 1960s[11]and more modern structures as well. There are over 5,000 apartment and condo units in Greater Downtown Pittsburgh.

Surrounding neighborhoods

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See also

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References

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  1. ^"State of Downtown - Downtown Pittsburgh"(PDF).Downtown Pittsburgh.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on December 22, 2018.RetrievedApril 30,2018.
  2. ^abc"PGHSNAP 2010 Raw Census Data by Neighborhood".PGHSNAP Utility.Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. 2012.RetrievedJune 21,2013.
  3. ^"PGHSNAP - Neighborhoods: All Raw Data".google.com.RetrievedApril 30,2018.
  4. ^"Census:Pittsburgh"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on August 10, 2007.RetrievedSeptember 2,2012.
  5. ^"Pittsburgh Census Tracts".pitt.libguides.com.Archivedfrom the original on January 3, 2018.RetrievedJanuary 2,2018.
  6. ^"Top Ten Reasons to Visit Pittsburgh".Archived fromthe originalon March 3, 2001.RetrievedJune 28,2007.
  7. ^abConti, John (January 22, 2012)."How a municipality is designed can create elegance or chaos".Pittsburgh Tribune Review.Archived fromthe originalon January 31, 2013.RetrievedJanuary 22,2012.
  8. ^"National Register Information System".National Register of Historic Places.National Park Service.March 13, 2009.
  9. ^Miller, Harold (August 3, 2008)."Regional Insights: Pittsburgh is a national player in jobs per square mile but needs more population".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Archivedfrom the original on August 17, 2008.RetrievedAugust 6,2008.
  10. ^Briem, Christopher (August 5, 2011)."hold em like they do in Texas plays".Nullspace.Archivedfrom the original on March 28, 2012.RetrievedAugust 6,2011.
  11. ^"The Pittsburgh Press - Google News Archive Search".news.google.com.

Further reading

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