Eleanor Street Park, 925 Eleanor Street, South Side Slopes
While the Eleanor Street playground and park recently received a glow-up, one thing didn’t change: its very steep hillside location! If you’re walking (or biking) up or down Eleanor, you might think this is one of the City’s steepest streets, but SURPRISE! Eleanor is “only” a 12.2% grade.
If that number seems low, it’s because grade is measured by the overall rise in elevation over the length of the street. And Eleanor is long, with 20 distinct cross street intersections of varying steepness. In comparison, the 37% grade of Canton Avenue in Beechview (considered the steepest street in the City and the continental US) is “only” 630 feet long. Regardless of the slicing and dicing of numbers, both present a formidable challenge to walkers, cyclists, and unsuspecting drivers blythly following their GPS.
One only has to spend a day walking around the Slopes to marvel at the strength and tenacity of the people who lived here before vehicles were widespread. The ancestors walked streets like Eleanor as part of their daily lives; lives that seem increasingly different and distant. While the road is still long and steep, there are shady trees, benches, colorful playground equipment, and a half basketball court, all of which provide plenty of space to catch your breath, relax, and prepare for the hill that lies ahead.
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