Streetcars figured prominently in Pittsburgh’s history and carried many students to classes at the University of Pittsburgh.
This photograph, made in August of 1939, shows how streetcars dominated Fifth Avenue in Oakland. In the background is Mellon Institute, Heinz Memorial Chapel and Bellefield Avenue.
During summer, when bridge work and road construction are in full swing, numerous detours make Pittsburgh seem like the world’s biggest obstacle course.
The summer of 1939 was especially trying for motorists and streetcar riders as construction crews worked to widen Fifth Avenue from University Place to Neville Street.
During that year, trolley riders and motorists regularly encountered closed streets, torn up streetcar tracks and holes in the pavement.
