Fixing a broken street grid

Much harm was done to cities when the interstate highways were built — especially the interruption of street grids — and fixing the damage can be costly. I-579 plus an urban renewal project involving a large arena separated downtown Pittsburgh from city neighborhoods to the east (the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers are natural barriers on other sides). A partial fix would create eight new city blocks and install a small cap over the highway — still costing $20 million — to connect those revitalizing neighborhoods to downtown again, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It marks a first step in trying to re-establish the Hill-Downtown link that was severed when most of the lower Hill was demolished to make way for the arena construction in the late 1950s and early 1960s," the paper reports. The Pittsburgh Penguins, owners of the site, are planning 1,192 residential units; 200,101 square feet of retail space; 691,962 square feet of office space; a 150-room hotel; and 2,957 off-street and 330 on-street parking spaces on the property, says the report.

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