Multi-Million Upgrade Finally Happening On East Carson Street
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – East Carson Street on Pittsburgh's South Side is one of the most dangerous streets for pedestrians.
But it is about to get a multi-million dollar upgrade, long in the making.
"A long time, probably about eight or nine years now," says city council president Bruce Kraus.
Beginning later this month, first the city of Pittsburgh and then PennDOT will undertake a repaving and pedestrian safety project that will affect a major stretch of East Carson Street.
"It was the sixth most dangerous stretch of road in the state of Pennsylvania," Kraus told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Monday.
"It was based on pedestrian and vehicular incidents."
Kraus, who grew up on the South Side, is excited about the $21 million project.
It starts with a city project to install more pedestrian street lights between 10th and 25th streets, very similar to the lights at the South Side Works, which are lower to the ground.
"The way it's going to improve safety is that it's going to be much better lit at eye level."
The city will also replace old trees along East Carson and add hanging flower baskets in the blocks with no trees.
PennDOT plans to repave the street from the Smithfield Street Bridge to 33rd Street and install 11 new traffic signals, along with better cross-walks with something called bump-outs to reduce the time you are actually walking in the street.
When asked if the upgrades would be disruptive for the businesses along the street, Kraus said it would be a "temporary inconvenience, permanent improvement."
The improvements will be made on a rolling basis so not everyone is affected at once.
It's not just pedestrian safety that's at stake here.
Officials hope that with better lighting on the South Side that will bring down the crime rate as well.
"Just the pedestrian lighting alone, having it lower and lighting the street much better will be a 100 percent improvement," notes Kraus.
The city should complete its work by this fall and PennDOT by the fall of 2020.