PITTSBURGH — A group of Pitt students is calling for safer streets in Oakland.
Members of two clubs sat at the intersection of Bates and Semple streets on Friday, collecting data about pedestrian crosswalk use and how many vehicles and bikes pass through the intersection in the span of 15 hours.
Organizers say the purpose of the data-gathering watch party is to try to showcase the need for safer travel on the roadway due to its volume of traffic.
“This is a bunch of students spending their St. Patrick’s Day weekend out here,” organizer Neil Cahill said. “You know we care about Oakland, we care about our streets, we want to make it safer.”
Last year, Cahill says the organizations counted almost 200 cyclists, 4,000 pedestrians and over 13,000 private vehicles that crossed the intersection over 24 hours.
The groups are concerned that there are few places to cross the intersection safely while allowing smooth vehicle traffic.
The students plan to collect data again all day on March 27. The information they collect will later be presented to city officials.
Cahill says these watch parties build upon PennDOT improvement plans for Bates Street, adding, "We want to ensure that PennDOT’s work is a part of a full city and university supported study and improvement project."
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
©2026 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
