Today, downtown Pittsburgh sits at the point where the rivers merge, on a sort of misshapen triangle of land. It’s really spectacular, with high hills across the river that provide an exceptional view of the city’s core. But it also means that, particularly in the modern economy, there are physical constraints that don’t exist elsewhere: the rivers, lots of hills. Like, on the map below, see Frick Park? It’s a gorgeous space, but it also limits how much people can move easily from the heavily populated eastern side of the city into downtown.
