City of Pittsburgh program aims to fix battered sidewalks

City officials expand program to reduce costs for low-income property owners

Repairs were underway on a stretch of Second Avenue in Hazelwood in late May. The city had repaired under a half mile of sidewalk through the pilot repair program at that time. Meadow Street in Larimer and Midwood Avenue in Carrick and Overbrook will be repaired later in the year. Photo by Caleb McCartney / Next Generation Newsroom

By Abigail Hakas

Pittsburgh is expanding a program to repair busted-up sidewalks, footing part of the bill for low-income owners.

The program was created to address busy areas with stretches of damaged and poorly maintained sidewalks — particularly those making conditions potentially dangerous for people passing through. So far, it has repaired around a little under a half-mile of sidewalk in two years.

This year, repairs are underway on Second Avenue in Hazelwood, and more are planned for Meadow Street in Larimer and Midwood Avenue in Carrick and Overbrook.

Since the responsibility of repairing sidewalks falls on property owners, the city’s main way of getting damaged sidewalks repaired was to cite and fine owners, with the hope it would spur change.

The program, piloted in 2023 and made permanent by City Council in March, means the city is now working with owners and subsidizing repairs for people who can’t afford them.

Usually, it costs around $300-350 per square yard for a property owner to repair a sidewalk, not including contracting and permitting costs, said Stephanie Gagne, a management analyst for the City of Pittsburgh.

The city spends around $200 per square yard, Gagne said. Homeowners may qualify to pay as little as 25% of the repair costs, based on their income as outlined in the city’s guidelines. The program uses city funding for repairs.

Around 20% of people whose sidewalks have been repaired qualified and opted in for discounts, according to a report to City Council in February from Kimberly Lucas, director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.

The city also takes care of contracting fees and permits, which can cost owners hundreds of dollars. They can sign up for an interest-free payment plan for up to five years. Non-occupant owners, such as landlords, are eligible for the payment plan but not discounts.

Officials look for stretches of damaged sidewalk in areas with the most crashes, in historically underserved communities, where the speed limit is above 25 mph, close to public spaces like schools and parks, or that residents have complained about.

The city has an interactive map (tinyurl.com/pgh-sidewalk-map) scoring sidewalks based on those and other factors.

Once city officials identify a patch in disrepair, they send informational packets asking owners to opt in. They will fine owners who don’t respond if the sidewalk is worthy of citing, but most owners have been enthusiastic about the program, city officials said.

The idea for the project came, in part, from advice from the Pittsburgh Futures Collaborative, a nonprofit that aims to improve quality of life in the city.

“We should aim for safety first, sort of Maslov’s hierarchy of needs. [People] should always be welcomed wherever they are. It’s really about inclusion of everybody,” said Geoff Webster, chair and senior adviser of Pittsburgh Futures Collaborative.

In its first year, the program focused on stretches of sidewalk around Pittsburgh Faison and Langley schools.

Last year, officials completed projects on North Mathilda Street and Schenley Manor Drive in Garfield.

Ultimately, the goal is regularly repairing all sidewalks every 25 years to avoid broken sidewalks and gaps in infrastructure — but doing so would require an annual $50 million budgeted for repair.

In the report to city council, Ms. Lucas advocated for an expansion of the program so that the city can hire its own sidewalk construction crew to speed up repairs, rather than relying on outside contractors who have other projects.

Investing a base level of $1 million annually would allow the program to grow its funding through residents opting in and paying for the work, Ms. Lucas argued. It would take around a decade, assuming 50% of residents pay into the program, to get to the $50 million needed to regularly repair sidewalks.

The city has over 1,300 miles of sidewalk total and repairs or creates around two miles every year.

Abigail Hakas is a reporter for Next Generation Newsroom, part of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. Reach her at abigail.hakas@pointpark.edu.

Caleb McCartney is a Pittsburgh-based freelance photographer and a recent graduate of Point Park University. Find his work at mcc-cal.com.

Next Generation Newsroom is a regional news service that focuses on government and enterprise reporting in southwestern Pennsylvania. Find a list of sponsors at nextgenerationnewsroom.org/sponsors.