Trip #619 Oakleaf Drive to Interboro Avenue, Lincoln Place, Pittsburgh took place on July 23, 2021, and was published on August 6, 2021.
Unless you live in a historic neighborhood with preservation guidelines, change comes to every street. Sometimes, it’s grand and sweeping, and other times it’s more subtle and gradual. This little corner at Interboro Avenue and Oakleaf Drive falls into the latter category. Once, this intersection contained a flight of city steps, but changes have taken place over the last fifteen years. First, they fenced off the top section while improving the road and sidewalks, and later, the bottom section was removed during hillside excavation to expand a parking lot. Today, only a tiny midsection remains, sandwiched between a chain-link fence and a retaining wall. But a stairway is still a stairway, even if it’s unsuitable for anything other than serving as a reminder that life and the landscape were once very different from today.
Field Notes: Through Google StreetView, you can see this flight before the various private and public construction projects obscured it from view. There’s not much left of it now (and no reason to walk on it) but a section that includes a bit of railing remains – and that’s all I need!
Love city steps? Get yourself the latest issue of Mis.Steps: Our Missed Connections with Pittsburgh’s City Steps! Each copy is unique and features 10 randomly selected “trading cards” of Pittsburgh’s 739 public stairways. Visit the Mis.Steps online store to see all issues and place your order.
Want to visit these stairs? You can locate them on the Pittsburgh City Steps Plan website!
Be a good neighbor! Have you visited these stairs and found them in poor condition or that illegal dumping (large items like tires, old furniture, and construction debris) and trash were abundant in the area? There are two things you can do to take action and make our city steps cleaner and safer for everyone! First, grab a photo if you can, and submit a report to Pittsburgh 311. All problems, both broken stairs, and railings, as well as trash and dumping, should be reported to the city. You can easily do this online or by calling.
