Boundary St. / S Neville St. is a vital connection in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. Proceeding south from Fifth Ave., S Neville St. descends a ravine with steep slopes on either side, eventually reaching the Panther Hollow section of Oakland. At the corridor's southern end, Boundary St. connects to the Junction Hollow Trail, which provides pedestrian and cycling access to Schenley Park, the Four Mile Run neighborhood, and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail system. In addition to these important connections, the corridor hosts institutional, residential, and industrial sites. These connections and sites attract many pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.

Despite this corridor's significance to all Oakland residents and students, it lacks a safe connection for pedestrians and bicyclists. Additionally, aggressive driving and speeding pose safety hazards for motorists. Through past planning efforts including The Oakland Plan led by the Department of City Planning, the community has identified that the Boundary / S Neville corridor requires improvements to create a safe multimodal connection from Fifth Ave. to the Junction Hollow Trail. To this end, DOMI, in collaboration with the surrounding community and everyday users of this corridor, is developing a streetscape plan to address traffic safety concerns and ensure safe accommodation for all modes of travel.

This plan will:

• Identify speeding concerns and opportunities for pedestrian safety, bicycle connectivity, and streetscape improvements along Boundary St. / S Neville St. from Fifth Ave. to the Junction Hollow Trailhead.
• Develop an implementable, safe, and accessible design for the corridor.
• Create cost estimates for the designed project.

This plan will not:

• Ensure funding or the city’s commitment towards immediate implementation of the designed project.
• Identify transportation projects beyond the scope of the plan.

On Tuesday 4/22/25 the project team held a walkthrough of the corridor with representatives from stakeholder groups. In attendance were representatives from Central Catholic High School, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the Bellefield Boiler Plant Consortium, Oakland Planning and Development Council (OPDC), the Oakland Transportation Management Association, BikePGH, City Council Districts 3, 5, and 8, as well as staff from DOMI and the Department of City Planning.

On the walkthrough, we discussed issues including:

• speeding,
• pedestrian and cyclist safety,
• loading and delivery operations,
• student pick-up and drop-off,
• current and upcoming institutional development plans adjacent to the corridor,
• right-of-way ownership, and
• drainage concerns.