Sneckdowns reveal safer street design ideas
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The sneckdowns of Friendship Park, at the intersection of Gross Street. Photo: Ryan Deto/Axios
Pittsburgh's covered in sneckdowns — the snow piles left over on streets after plows clear paths for vehicles.
Why it matters: Sneckdowns provide a blueprint for the potential redesign of streets to make them safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, said Eric Boerer, advocacy director for nonprofit Bike Pittsburgh.
Between the lines: Sneckdown is a combination of neckdown — a raised curb extension used for traffic calming — and snow.
- Boerer said they show the parts of the roads where vehicles rarely touch the asphalt, thus illustrating them as superfluous.
- "Sneckdowns show a real-life heat map of where drivers actually use the street," he said.
Case in point: Friendship Avenue surrounding Friendship Park in Bloomfield creates several sneckdowns, some large as 50 square feet.
- Schenley Drive, near the visitor center, is also a sneckdown hot spot, said Boerer.
- Many large intersections showcase them, he said, citing the intersection at Liberty Avenue and Bloomfield Bridge.
Zoom out: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said about sneckdowns before last weekend's snowstorm, "I look forward to any of the medium- and long-term lessons we can learn from this weekend about street design."
State of play: Some cities, like Philadelphia, have used sneckdowns as guidance to install permanent traffic-calming devices.
- Pittsburgh has installed a lot of traffic-calming infrastructure over the years, said Boerer, but he isn't sure whether any were sneckdown-inspired.
- City officials did not respond to Axios' request for comment about sneckdowns.
In addition to inspiring neckdowns, Borer said, sneckdowns can also show where loading zones could be installed, so that delivery trucks have places to temporarily park.
Have a sneckdown near you?
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