South Side Slopes traffic calming construction underway in an effort to slow down drivers

PITTSBURGH — New signs are installed and work is underway on Pius Street in the South Side Slopes in an effort to keep pedestrians and neighbors safe. City street crews installed four speed humps and high visibility crosswalks Wednesday morning — traffic calming measures intended to force drivers to slow down.

For Vanya Betrova, who lives on Pius Street, seeing the street crews was a sight for sore eyes.

“[It’s] great news because they speed all the time. It’s a very busy street,” Betrova said.

The work is being done between South 18th and Brosville streets — a stretch of road that Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) collected data from in 2021. It showed that more than half of people traveling on the street drove faster than the posted speed limit of 25 mph. Most drove 31 mph or faster.

“Oh yeah, especially when we cross the street, people are always flying down the street,” said Kavonna Anderson, who lives on Pius Street

DOMI said that rate of speeding, along with the crash history of the area, indicated a strong need for traffic calming, which is one of the most requested services in the city.

“We have over 1,000 applications currently in our queue, and we have funding annually for about 12 projects, so the need greatly outpaces the resources we have available,” said Emily Bourne, City of Pittsburgh press officer representing DOMI.

DOMI said the work is likely to take about two days.

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