east liberty station: realizing the potential - City of Pittsburgh

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Pittsburgh neighborhood
of East Liberty was the third largest
commercial district in the state of
Pennsylvania in the 1950’s with more than
500 local businesses and a population
of 14,000. As the automobile became
the dominant mode of transportation,
congestion increased. Residential and
commercial shifts to the ‘car-friendly’
suburbs in the following decades resulted
in disastrous social and economic downturn
that destroyed the urban fabric.
Urban renewal schemes were devised
to stop the flight. Penn Avenue was
reconstructed as car friendly loop around
the neighborhood with vast surface parking
lots for a “mall” atmosphere in an effort to
compete with suburban retail experience.
When building this “circle”, many small
businesses were closed and torn down.
Development oriented to the use of the
automobile came at the expense of mass
transit and pedestrian activity.
Three large housing complexes were
constructed to make up for the destruction of
the homes that were removed when creating
Penn Circle. Though well intentioned, both
contributed heavily to the decline of the
once vibrant community. For decades, East
Liberty was characterized by thousands of
mostly vacant high rise housing units flanking
a decaying business district. The areas
lost more than one million square feet of
commercial space and half its population by
1980. Blight spread and crime rates soared.
East Liberty is now experiencing a longdelayed
rebirth as a commercial hub that
will be centered around direct access to the
Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC)
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor (known as
the Martin Luther King, Jr. East Busway).
To be successful in the 21st century and
capitalize on redevelopment opportunities,
the area requires a more robust pedestrian,
bike and mass transit infrastructure. This
strategy for reviving historical urban
commercial districts through multimodal
improvements can be a model not only for
Pittsburgh, but for communities throughout
Pennsylvania.
East Liberty Station and the surrounding district today
East Liberty is uniquely positioned to
leverage the PAAC transit network,
especially the East Busway. Through a
partnership with the PAAC, Southwestern
Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), Allegheny
County, Pittsburgh Public School
District, Urban Redevelopment Authority
(URA), East Liberty Development Inc.
(ELDI), various community development
organizations and the private development
community, the City of Pittsburgh is
collaboratively building a sustainable
strategy to continue revitalization of this
transition neighborhood. Coordination of
transportation and land use through the
East Liberty TRID Study | Pittsburgh Department of City Planning