Pittsburgh repairing landslide on Mt. Washington's William Street

Pittsburgh is repairing a landslide in Mt. Washington near the Liberty Tunnels, a city official said.

Karina Ricks, director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, said the major slide is one of three that happened along the street linking Arlington and Boggs avenues. The city spent $700,000 in 2018 on geotechnical work and repairs on one of the William Street slides.

Ricks estimated current project costs at $526,000.

Work is underway and is expected to end by fall, she said.

“It is not our intention to reopen William Street to vehicular traffic,” she said. “We might reopen it for pedestrian or bicycle traffic.”

The street runs through Emeraldview Park. There are numerous homes on the upper end near Cola Street and three on the lower end near Arlington Avenue. Ricks said residents have vehicle access to all but one house, which is vacant near the lower end of the street.

She said the house does not have off-street parking and parking on the narrow end is prohibited.

“You can still walk to that home,” Ricks said. “That’s what you would have had to do, anyway. I don’t know what they did with their vehicles when it was inhabited.”

Workers will create three “benches” on the slope to prevent future sliding onto Arlington Avenue, she said.

Pittsburgh City Council this week introduced a resolution that would authorize the city to obtain easements permitting workers to cross private property along Arlington and access one portion of the slide area.