The first stage in this process was the creation of the Downtown Mobility Plan, a unified mobility and placemaking plan for Downtown Pittsburgh’s streets. Over 18 months from fall 2019 through spring 2021, thousands of stakeholders and members of the public provided input on how downtown streets can contribute to a more vibrant and better-functioning downtown.

“Smithfield Reimagined” is one of nine High Impact Priorities priority projects from this plan, intending to transform the street from Liberty Avenue to the Smithfield Bridge into a vibrant, central hub for all users. It reaffirms the public's desire to create a more people-centric space by providing a more walkable, small business-oriented, and pedestrian-friendly experience.

This website is a homepage for every step of the process to implement this high-priority community project. Through engagement and planning, we can build strategies that can be immediately implemented through DOMI projects, and long-range strategies that will require additional funding and partnership in the next few years.

This first phase implementation project is one step in the long-term reimagining of Smithfield St. and provides us with an opportunity to begin revitalizing this important street.

Smithfield Street has served as an important corridor in Downtown Pittsburgh for over 200 years with its historic buildings, legacy of streetcars, and the iconic Kaufmanns clock all shaping its history. Despite its position as a premier Downtown destination, it’s clear that Smithfield Street is currently not living up to its potential. The Downtown Mobility Plan (May 2021) unveiled a vision to “reimagine Smithfield” that included enhanced features to support the thousands of residents, workers, visitors, and students who use Smithfield every day.

As an important transit street that incudes places like Mellon Square Park, the Carnegie Library, and future Target with hundreds of new apartment and condo units and a range of shops and restaurants, the Smithfield corridor continues to play a vital role in the Downtown experience. Today, the question before us is how the street and adjacent public space, both inside and outside of buildings, should change in the years ahead to reflect the needs of our times. That’s where you come in!

The City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership invite you to participate in a survey to provide feedback into the vision of the corridor and the future redevelopment project. The Department of City Planning and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is creating a long-term vision for how to reimagine Smithfield in the years ahead, what role it should play for Pittsburghers, and how it should consider the needs of all users. The Department of Mobility & Infrastructure is planning a complete reconstruction of three blocks of Smithfield between Forbes Avenue and Sixth Avenue in 2023 and will be utilizing the long-term vision to inform specific design decisions. We are excited to share the initial findings from our work with stakeholders along the corridor and are now ready to hear from the public.

The Smithfield Street & Public Space Visioning survey is officially open for all to respond to! Please take 5-10 minutes to provide feedback on the two interactive maps and complete the survey.

Want to know how Smithfield stakeholders envision Reimagining Smithfield Street? Follow the links below to view the presentations from the stakeholder meetings held in June & September 2021.

Presentation from the September 2021 Smithfield Stakeholder Meeting held via Zoom

Presentation from the June 2021 Smithfield Street Stakeholder Meeting held via Zoom

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Smithfield Street & Public Space Visioning Survey last fall! Between the survey form and two interactive maps, we received a total of 394 responses.

Follow this link to view a summary of survey outcomes and findings.

The long-range planning effort aims to reimagine Smithfield Street not just in terms of its importance as a mobility corridor connecting across the Golden Triangle, but also as a significant meeting place at destinations along the corridor, including Mellon Square Park, Carnegie Library Downtown Branch, Port Authority’s Service Center, restaurants, and other distinctive uses.

Engagement goals include:

• Confirming the initial vision previously developed with corridor-level stakeholders; and
• Identifying preferred materials (i.e., sidewalk, curb, pavement, transit infrastructure, etc.), a vision for transforming Mellon Square, and how best to accommodate loading and valet needs.

DOMI is initiating the full-depth reconstruction of the Smithfield Street corridor with the portion between Forbes Avenue and Sixth Avenue. This project will fully reconstruct the street and sidewalk, from building face to building face, and will include the following within its scope of work:

• Full depth pavement reconstruction
• Sidewalk and curb replacement
• Sidewalk widening and curb realignment
• Street Lighting upgrades
• Signal updates
• Storm system updates
• Streetscaping
• Vault investigation and repairs
• Trolley track removal
• Pavement markings
• Associated miscellaneous construction

Read the project fact sheet.