Pittsburgh begins rebuilding iconic Chestnut Street in East Allegheny

For years, residents of the East Allegheny neighborhood on Pittsburgh’s North Side have lamented the condition of Chestnut Street, a main artery where the brick surface is pockmarked with displaced bricks and sunken areas that create hazardous conditions such as ponding around the sharp edges of the old streetcar tracks.

But the neighborhood was faced with a dilemma. Residents didn’t want to sacrifice the street’s charm and character for fresh asphalt or concrete, but they also were at a loss for a way to preserve and improve the street’s attributes.

Pittsburgh City Councilman Bobby Wilson said Chestnut has been a top priority since he was elected five years ago, and after a lot of patience and lobbying, the city and residents have settled on a plan they think threads the needle.

Contractor A. Mercante Construction Inc. will begin work Monday on the first phase of a $1.47 million project to rebuild the street from the concrete base up with a brick surface, plus new sidewalks and curbs, from Spring Garden Avenue to Tripoli Street. Because of the cost of resetting the streetcar tracks and the likelihood the street would deteriorate around them again, the tracks will be removed, and part of them will be given to a Hazelwood facility to create an art project that will be displayed in the community.

The second phase, expected to begin next year, will extend the project to Phineas Street.

“I’m glad we came to this project we have now,” Wilson said. “We wanted to preserve the character of that street. It’s a focal point of that neighborhood.”

Wilson credited Mayor Ed Gainey’s office for finding money to fund the first phase of the project this year. The second phase may be included in next year’s capital budget, but if not it will be done over two years.

In interviews last week and at a community meeting in April, city engineer Michael Panzitta, who’s overseeing the project, said keeping the tracks was “unfeasible” because potential contractors “threw up their hands” at the prospect of resetting them in a new base. That would have been extremely expensive — Wilson said the cost of the tracks alone was as much as the full rebuild of the street — and the contractors said they couldn’t guarantee that the street wouldn’t quickly deteriorate around the rails again.

Instead, crews will remove the existing surface, including the base, and rebuild it with 10 inches of concrete underneath, new catch basins and brick pavers on the surface. The first phase should be finished by January.

Chestnut will be closed beginning Monday between Spring Garden and Tripoli. The city’s recommended detour has motorists using Spring Garden, Vinial Street, Phineas Street and Madison Avenue.

Chestnut was last rebuilt in 1939, and Panzitta said he expects this to be a long-lasting project, too.

“I know this has been a long time coming,” Panzitta said. “It will be brand new, and I definitely think this will last a lot longer than just a repair.”