[Illustration: THE "POINT" OF PITTSBURGH AS IT STANDS TO-DAY.]
A new retail shopping district is building up in the East End, and by
the erection of great warehouses to the north along Penn avenue, and
across the river on the South Side, a great part of the heavy wholesale
trade has been removed from the "Point." Nevertheless it is clear that
the little triangle, which is the business heart of Pittsburgh, will
remain crowded; and that with all these measures taken, the normal
growth of a few busy years will produce a congestion demanding some
radical measure of relief. Ultimately this might take the form of an
elevated structure, or a second street-story for the tapering western
end of the plat. The area thus to be raised, and so given double
capacity, is not very large, and the merest glance at the topography
shows that the bridge near the "Point", which strikes Pittsburgh
proper well above the street grade, is about on a level with the top
of the "Hump". To build a second story over the intervening streets,
reserving the lower story for heavy, slow moving traffic, giving to the
abutting buildings two street floors--and thereby increasing their rent
productiveness, would present no insurmountable difficulties either
from the engineering or the financial point of view. It is a long look
ahead, and perhaps not entirely desirable; but it would be a typically
Pittsburghian thing to do.
[Illustration: A TRIANGLE WHICH COULD BE MADE AN APPROACH TO THE
"POINT".]
[Illustration: THE HAMBURG WATER FRONT.