What do some eggs, brains, and busy Pittsburgh pedestrian crossings have in common? They’re scrambled.
Pedestrian scrambles — known by other fun monikers including Barnes Dance, scramble crossing, and pedestrian jubilee — are all-way crossings where vehicular traffic is stopped completely to allow walkers and rollers to cross in any direction. Pittsburgh has several. They’re clustered in areas with heavy traffic, with many located downtown or near the city’s universities. If you’re going “aha” at this description, my bet is you’ve encountered the one by Heinz Hall at Penn Avenue and Sixth Street.
American and Canadian planners pioneered the pedestrian scramble in the middle of the 20th century. Civil engineer Henry Barnes piloted the idea in Denver and later New York City. New Haven, Conn. even made them the go-to crossing configuration for most central intersections. However, many cities phased out their scramble crossings, with notoriously car-brained planner Robert Moses pushing back on pedestrian scrambles in New York for slowing down traffic…