Student groups advocate for safety improvements on Bates Street

Amid concerns about pedestrian safety following fatal crashes on campus, members of Complete Streets, the Urban Planning Club and the South Oakland community gathered on March 19 for a “Bates Street Safety Talk.” 

The event comes as part of a larger effort by Pitt organizations to improve pedestrian life along Bates Street, which spans from I-376 to Bouquet Street through South Oakland, following PennDOT plans to widen Bates Street to accommodate transit access.

The event leaders gathered community feedback about the Bates Street intersections, having attendees write down and discuss in groups general concerns and potential solutions to safety issues on Bates Street.

Both groups presented specific dangers on each Bates intersection from Zulema to Bouquet. ADA ramps lead into the street instead of the crosswalks, and in many cases, there are undesignated crosswalk lines from one corner to the other. The intersection of Atwood and Bates is the only street within the range of Zulema and Bouquet to have a stoplight that signals to vehicles and pedestrians when to proceed. 

Neil Cahill, president of Complete Streets and a sophomore urban planning major, opened up the event by explaining the importance of Bates Street for residents, businesses and students. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is planning to widen the street south of the Boulevard of the Allies down to I-376. 

“Everyone that passes through Central Oakland passes along Bates Street,” Cahill said. “With changes going to that side of Bates Street, why shouldn’t the section that runs through Central Oakland — where the majority of residences and businesses are — we should be focusing on that as well.” 

As a mainly advocacy-focused organization, Complete Streets sought to expand its connections by collaborating with a group that could help strengthen its network, leading it to partner with the Urban Planning Club. 

Sydney Greenway, president of UPC and a senior urban planning major, explained that as a first-year club, this campaign was the “perfect opportunity” to make an impact in the community.  

“To give students like our members the opportunity to interact and work on a joint project and joint long-term projects sustained over multiple weeks, I think, is a unique opportunity for student organizations to be able to do and facilitate, which I was really excited about,” Greenway said.

During a walk audit, Cahill recalled taking notice of Bates Street’s high traffic flow coming off the Boulevard of the Allies and the large number of commuter students attempting to walk safely across the street. From that, both clubs found that at the intersections of Zulema and Bouquet, there has been a report of 42 crashes between 2019 and 2023. With these crime reports, the clubs wanted to come together and gain a community perspective of Bates Street as an issue. 

“We know that this is underreporting. Near misses, small accidents and taps are not going to be reflected in this data,” Greenway said, “but this is the number of crashes that require police attention.”

To gather additional data, both clubs put up flyers with QR surveys around the campus on telephone poles and bulletin boards to hear the community’s safety concerns and better understand how widespread these problems are. 

“Every single person we have talked to about Bates Street as an issue has said, ‘Yeah, that’s a problem.’ There is kind of that disconnect of everyone that has that opinion,” Cahill said.

In April 2022, two people were taken to the hospital after a crash at Second Avenue and Bates Street. A few months later in July of that year, a multi-vehicle crash closed off the end of Bates Street, resulting in two injuries.

Pitt employee Jessie Maroney was killed in December after being struck by a box truck near the intersections of Darragh and Terrace Streets. One year prior, Emily Watson, a UPMC employee, was struck by a UPMC shuttle near the Petersen Event Center. Both Complete Streets and UPC want to take action to prevent this from happening to students in the future. 

“There needs to be more preventative measures in place to protect people crossing the street, especially if they’re crossing legally in a crosswalk,” Cahill said. “I’ve been in this organization for two years, and I’ve had to go to six vigils for people who [were] killed in acts of traffic violence. This is not a Bates Street issue, Terrace Street issue … it’s an all over the city of Pittsburgh issue.”

Gina Bleck, vice chancellor for the Office of Planning, Design and Construction, said her office “admire[s] the dedication of the students who are working on this ambitious project to improve their community.”

“We have seen the benefit of complete streets firsthand on our campus following the construction of the Bigelow Block Transformation,” Bleck said. “We are glad that these students are so passionately engaged and look forward to seeing where their conversations with the City of Pittsburgh take them as they seek to improve this city-owned street.”

Moving forward, both clubs are hoping to analyze feedback from students and community members to find recurring issues and share them with advocacy organizations, Pitt and the Pittsburgh City Planning Council. 

“We are not city planners by trade, so we are also seeing our role in this as organizers and as advocates, people who care,” Greenway said. 

With Bates Street being home to many businesses and residents, Greenway said they’re expecting difficulties to arise when trying to assess community opinions when streets are under construction. 

“We have the understanding that this is complicated and probably won’t line up, but that this should be in the back of the City’s mind when addressing things,” Greenway said. 

Alwyn Williams, a senior applied math major, lives on McKee Place and has to frequently cross Bates to make it to campus. Williams said incoming cars traveling at high speeds and not being conscious of pedestrians make crossing the street a “challenge.”

“I’ve definitely had a lot of close calls,” Williams said, “and I’ve also witnessed a lot of close calls.” 

In an interview with The Pitt News, Williams brought attention to the residents and businesses that remain in Oakland outside of the student population at the University. With students typically remaining in the area only for the duration of their schooling, Williams said locals are left with a multitude of issues.

“There’s a ton of pedestrians in Oakland, and it’s easy for us to ignore that because we’ll be gone in four years, but for the people that are still here, these problems are going to stay,” Williams said. “As students, it’s our responsibility to take some action for your community and give back.”

This article was updated to include an emailed statement from Vice Chancellor for the Office of Planning, Design and Construction Gina Bleck.