By SUSAN JONES
A Dec. 5 pedestrian accident that left a Pitt employee dead has prompted further review of the Terrace Street corridor between Darragh and DeSoto streets by the city of Pittsburgh and the University.
Jessie Maroney, 37, of South Park and a member of the housekeeping staff at the Starzl Biomedical Science Towers, was struck by a box truck around 5:45 a.m. Dec. 5 as she crossed Darragh Street near Terrace. It was the second pedestrian vs. vehicle fatality in just over a year in that area. A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help the Maroney family.
On Dec. 18, the city’s Fatal Crash Response Team, which includes the Pittsburgh Police Collision Investigation Unit, conducted a site visit at the intersection at approximately the same time the crash occurred.
Based on the visit, the team recommended the following infrastructure revisions:
Improvements at Terrace and Darragh streets:
Traffic signal adjustments: Signal operations will be changed from flashing during overnight hours to being fully “stop and go” 24/7.
“No turn on red”: The restrictions have been implemented on all four approaches.
Leading pedestrian interval: A three-second leading pedestrian Interval will be implemented for all pedestrian crossings.
Improvements at nearby intersections:
O’Hara and DeSoto streets: A three-second leading pedestrian Interval will be implemented for all pedestrian crossings. “No Turn on Red” will be applied to both approaches.
Allequippa and Darragh streets: A three-second leading pedestrian Interval will be implemented for all pedestrian crossings
The city said it will continue to evaluate and review the corridor, in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh.
The University said in a statement that it "remains committed to ongoing and vital conversations to help make Oakland a safer place for pedestrians, cyclists and commuters, and we are committed to supporting initiatives that promote safety for everyone who uses Terrace Street and the surrounding area. We welcomed the city’s onsite review of the DeSoto/Terrace Street corridor to assess improvements of these city-owned roads. We continue to engage with all partners on this important issue and, to that end, a study of the DeSoto/Terrace Street corridor will also be completed at the end of January 2025 and will be reviewed by partners.”
A statement last week from Dwayne Pinkney, Pitt’s executive senior vice chancellor for administration and finance, said that while the University does not own these roads, it commissioned an independent traffic and safety study of the DeSoto/Terrace Street corridor earlier this year to assess and identify potential improvements to the area.
“We are already implementing preliminary recommendations, such as increased lighting and repainted curb and pavement markings. In January, we will review the final results of the safety study along with the city, UPMC and other partners,” the message said.
Pinkney noted that Pitt Police regularly have officers stationed at high-traffic areas, including an increased presence on the DeSoto/Terrace Street corridor.
“The city, the University, UPMC, need to act; need to notice that this is a problem and work to address it,” said Neil Cahill, a member of Complete Streets at Pitt and a sophomore urban planning and geographic analysis major. The group held a vigil for Maroney on Dec. 11, just as it had done last December after Emily Watson, 29, of Pittsburgh and a UPMC employee, was struck by a UPMC shuttle bus at Terrace Street and Sutherland Drive, and later died of her injuries.
“We can’t allow more community members to be lost in senseless acts of traffic violence,” Cahill said. The group is advocating for intersection daylighting, which creates buffer zones with no parked cars near crosswalks to allow more visibility for pedestrians and drivers. They would also like to see better lighting, better signage and bollards, which are short, sturdy vertical posts that are used to guide traffic, prevent vehicle access to restricted areas, and protect pedestrians and structures.
Eric Boerer of BikePGH said of the 27 pedestrian fatalities in Pittsburgh over the past five years, three have happened near Terrace Street. The third was retired Air Force Lt. Col. Mary “Jeanne” Flaherty, 76, of Monroeville, who was hit by a UPMC shuttle when she was crossing the street at the intersection of Terrace and Buffalo streets in September 2020.
“I think a lot of the streets, especially in Oakland, aren’t necessarily designed around pedestrian; they’re designed around car drivers,” Boerer said. “I think especially in a place like Oakland, we need to be a lot more conscientious of pedestrians.”
He praised the city for signing on earlier this year to the national Vision Zero plan, which is designed to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries for all who use city streets to zero. BikePGH has been advocating for this program for 10 years.
The heart of the Vision Zero policy is that “all these fatalities are preventable. And so if you approach the problem with the understanding that they’re preventable, then we can do something to address them,” Boerer said.
He said the city, especially under Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration, has taken several steps in traffic calming. Terrace Street, he said, needs to have more of these measures, such as curb bump outs and enforcement against cars parking in crosswalks.
Raised crosswalks, like the one on Bigelow Boulevard between the Cathedral of Learning and William Pitt Union, also help to slow traffic down. While that might not work everywhere, Boerer said it’s a good example of pedestrian-first design.
“We want to ensure that action comes out of these events,” Cahill said, “and that we see that this instance of traffic violence never ever again occurs on our city streets, especially here in Oakland, where there are quite literally thousands upon thousands of pedestrians walking every single day.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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