America's Hilliest City

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Despite barely cracking the top 70 largest cities in America by population, Pittsburgh is one of the most visually stunning cities in the country. Much of this can be attributed to the deep river valleys, the undulating terrain, and the steep steep hills that can be found all over the place in the city…. Including what is allegedly steepest public street in the country, one that I had a chance to drive, while I was there last week.

Pittsburgh is the only major city that lies completely within the Appalachia region, and because of that it grew in a totally different manner than the typical city. Despite all these hills, theres actually only about a 600’ elevation difference between the highest and lowest point in the city… and fairly unimpressive number when compared to other, more mountainous cities like Los Angeles, which has closer to 5000’ of elevation difference. Even a famously flat coastal city like Baltimore has almost 400’ of elevation difference from its high point to its low point.

But what makes Pittsburgh so different is its many rivers and tributaries, which cut deep valleys into the terrain over time. In Pittsburgh, there is comparatively flat land anywhere … once you get away from the immediate downtown area and the flat riverbanks of the Allegheny, Monogohela and Ohio Rivers, you’ll find that you’re pretty much always either walking up hill or down hill.

Chapters
0:00 - Intro
1:45 - Early development in Pittsburgh
2:35 - Taking on the hills
2:59 - A city of incline railways (... over a dozen at its peak, though only 2 remain)
3:42 - A city of bridges (...more than Venice Italy)
4:06 - A city of tunnels (...over a dozen major tunnels)
4:44 - A city of stairs (...the largest public stair complex in the country)
5:35 - A city of steep streets (...some of the steepest in the world)
6:02 - Driving up the country's steepest street (Canton Avenue)
7:55 - The hills... blessing or curse?
8:45 - The Dirty Dozen (crazy bicyclist doing crazy bicycle things)