[PRCo] Re: West Carson Street

[Phillip Clark Campbell]

I just tried "Pgh Rwy" Mr.Brashear and only came up with three results but
the first one is interesting.  All results on pg.73; the first is a reference to a
Mass Transit study of 1947.
The other 2-references are dated -- one to the 1910 study by Mr.Arnold, the
other to a fixed valuation of Prc properties dated 1937.  Inflation alone may
have nearly doubled the value of the properties by 1949.

One of the references was to Mr.Lorant's "Pgh." book; although from a newer
version than mine I recognized the entries from the 200-year chronology.  I
quickly viewed them to find the following:



1939:

Nov-16:
...planners unveiled comprehensive "arterial plan" solution Triangle traffic...
Included...Pitt Parkway Wilkinsburg to downtown Pgh; cross-town highway
at upper border of Triangle; reconstruction of Duquesne Way as first step
in highway system to cneompass Triangle; removal of Wabash Station and
tracks; improvement of Saw Mill Run; removal of TROLLEYS from Downtown
Streets; removal of B&O RR station to clear for the parkway.  Discarded
proposed restoration of Fort Pitt as "impractical and undesirable."


1940:

Jan-5:
...$38,000,000... 1940 reconstruction of Duquesne Way... Liberty Tubes
grade separation;  ... extend Saw Mill Run to West End.

Aug-23:
...opened to traffic is 2-level Water St. bypass.

Oct-10:
Plans for park at Point.


1943:

May-24:
Drastic curtailment bus and taxi service required by ODT's 40% but in
Pgh. gasoline allotment; Prc eliminated 5-bus routes curtailed 9-others.

Aug-19:
Duquesne Way improvement open to traffic; crosstown next project.


1945

Jan-30:
Park Martin... formulated the County's long-range planning program in 1936...
appointed exec director of  Allegheny Conference on Community Develop...

Nov-14:
...plans for a proposed-acre state park at the Point.


1946:

Jan-21:
All mills silent; steel production hit 50-year low.

August:
Construction starts on new bus terminal Water and Smithfield.


1947:

June-4:
Alleghency Conf Community Development... branded Pgh transportation
system outmoded; recommended Oakland to Downtown subway, express
buses, other recommendations.

[Peak year for Prc ridership since 1940, almost every year higher, a few
significantly so.  It is all downhill from here.]


1949:

Feb-13:
State purchased 13-acres from PRR for Point Park.


1950:

Jan-25:
76-degrees in Pgh.

Feb-10:
Detailed plans for Penn-Lincoln Parkway West with large interchange
in Carnegie.

Feb-14:
$50-million in contracts for Gateway Center awarded.

Oct-15:
Excavation for 3-stainless Gateway Center bldgs.

Nov-24:
30.5" official snowfall, [some areas more, some less] trolley service
stopped for 5-days.

Nov-30:
City removing some 5,000 snowbound autos from trolley routes;
snow removal machines in action.


1951:

Aug-10:
B&O agrees to move passenger station to Grant.

Nov-29:
"First" Allegheny Converence Community Development mass transit
study recommends Triangle subway.


1952:

Jan-19:
5-years after opening, Union Bus Terminal [Water-Smithfield] goes
bankrupt, leaving 5-bus lines "homeless."


This list and that from the book are hardly exhaustive but certainly
suggestive that planning often starts decades ahead of construction
and is open to adjustment and modification along the way isn't it.

It seems it should be easy to assemble the puzzle pieces now but
so many are missing aren't they.

 
Phil




________________________________
 From: Derrick Brashear <shadow at gmail.com>
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org 
Sent: Thursday, March 1, 2012 11:44 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: West Carson Street
 
If they did, I bet it would be in here:
Mass transportation study of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Volume 1
http://books.google.com/books?id=xWpAAAAAIAAJ&q=%22allegheny+conference%22+%22point+bridge%22+1949&dq=%22allegheny+conference%22+%22point+bridge%22+1949&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QqdPT_epOsiJsQKI68XADg&ved=0CEYQ6AEwAQ

On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Edward H. Lybarger <trams2 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Somewhere I saw an article that said PRC acknowledged to (I believe) the
> Allegheny Conference in 1949 that they would not be operating streetcars
> over the new bridge.  I fervently wish I could find the reference, because
> it would demonstrate that the later commotion about replacing money-losing
> West End trolley routes with buses was a bunch of crocodile tears designed
> to get someone else to pay for the buses and let PRC of easy on the paving
> obligations.
>
> Ed