Stepping up

Among Pittsburgh’s treasures: 700 sets of steps

Pittsburgh’s city steps are an underused attraction. They have as much potential as the riverfront trails diligently maintained by Riverlife, and they deserve a comparable level of care and attention. The city’s plan to develop a comprehensive maintenance strategy is much needed.

Pittsburgh owns about 700 sets of steps — more, it says, than any other American city. Credit the crazy topography here. In her column last week, the Post-Gazette’s Diana Nelson Jones rightly called these staircases “the city’s most enchanting transportation system.” Blue-collar workers once used them to get from their homes to work and back. Some remain important for connecting neighborhoods; others, not so much. Some are in good shape. Others are overgrown or missing railings or concrete.

The city has a schedule for paving streets, and it should have a similar schedule for maintaining the steps — with an adequate budget, too. Wellused staircases should be kept in safe condition; lesser-used ones still have historical and cultural value and should receive as much care as possible. To accomplish that, the city should strive to increase the number of volunteers who help to keep the steps in good shape in some neighborhoods.

This is an opportune time for more volunteer groups to form. The city, which is using a $100,000 grant from Living Cities to develop a maintenance plan, held a public meeting on the project Thursday. If community groups want additional meetings, the citysays it’s willing to have them.

As the riverfront trails have become an attraction, so should the steps. Lots of cities have recreational trails. Some have inclines. But none has Pittsburgh’s system steps. They’re a great way to experience the architecture and vistas of various neighborhoods, and the climbing isgood for the legs and lungs.

Each fall, the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association sponsors a Step Trek in a neighborhood that claims to be home to 10 percent of the city’s staircases. Fineview also has incorporated city steps into fitness events. More neighborhoods should do so, and tour companies and VisitPittsburgh should promote the many staircases as a feature as unique to Pittsburgh as the city’s many bridges and neighborhoods.

The city should consider establishing an organization along the lines of Riverlife to oversee maintenance and promotion of the staircases. As Riverlife does with the riverfront trails and parks, the new group should have a website showing the location of the staircases, telling neighborhood stories and listing other attractions nearby.

The city’s steps are diamonds in the rough. It’s time to better maintain them — and to take greater advantage of them. of