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Unofficially the world's steepest public street

downtownrobbrowndowntownrobbrown 446 Posts
edited March 2011 in Strut Central





Canton Avenue, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Beechview neighborhood, is the steepest officially-recorded public street in the United States.[
Canton Avenue is quite possibly also the steepest street in the world, as Baldwin Street in New Zealand, which is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's steepest, has an officially-recorded grade of 35%, two percent less than Canton's.[3] However, Baldwin Street's angle continues over a longer trajectory.

Canton Avenue has a grade of 37%, meaning that for every 100 ft (30 m) of horizontal distance traveled, the elevation changes by 37 ft (11 m).[4][5]

Here's a video of it:

  Comments

  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Unofficially Soulstrut's most chirp-worthy thread. Sorry, dawg.
  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    "like"

    I remember the first time driving up the hills of San Francisco halfway convinced that the van we were in was going to roll backwards end over end.
  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    button said:
    "like"

    I remember the first time driving up the hills of San Francisco halfway convinced that the van we were in was going to roll backwards end over end.

    Don't believe that weak ass Filbert BS, there's way steeper streets in SF. Although technically the 37% grade on Prentiss is measured on the inside of a curved street, so the mean grade could be less than that.
  • dj_cityboydj_cityboy 1,484 Posts
    this shit is all a joke compared to driving in St Lucia, that is some dicey driving.the main road into the Jalouise Plantation is on some next level steepness...all the roads in general are beyond anything i have seen before..and given the fact that it rains almost everyday it makes it all that much crazier
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    dollar_bin said:
    button said:
    "like"

    I remember the first time driving up the hills of San Francisco halfway convinced that the van we were in was going to roll backwards end over end.

    Don't believe that weak ass Filbert BS, there's way steeper streets in SF. Although technically the 37% grade on Prentiss is measured on the inside of a curved street, so the mean grade could be less than that.

    yes, and i have been on the verge having a heart attack plenty of times having to stop on one these sf streets when i first started driving a stick-shift 14 years ago. i even rolled back and tapped the car behind me once! so freaking nerve racking

    also dollarbin, i am working at the same campus now
  • Mr_Lee_PHDMr_Lee_PHD 2,042 Posts
    Whoa.

    Anyone got any possibly steeper non-public streets to rep ?

    I live in Gloucestershire and we've got some steep-ass country lanes just like this - no public roads that steep though. There's one just near me called 'breakneck hill'.
  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    Mr_Lee_PHD said:
    Whoa.

    Anyone got any possibly steeper non-public streets to rep ?

    I live in Gloucestershire and we've got some steep-ass country lanes just like this - no public roads that steep though. There's one just near me called 'breakneck hill'.

    According to a followup of the link I posted above, Bradford above Tompkins checks in at a nearly non-navigable 41% grade. At some point, it just becomes a pointless display of bad planning.
  • buttonbutton 1,475 Posts
    I remember this Times article from last year about navigating one-lane dirt roads that wind up and down mountains in Afghanistan. That shit was frightful enough in 2d, cant imagine looking out your Jeep window and down about 500 feet to the valley bottom.
  • DustedDonDustedDon 830 Posts
    pretty sure Duluth MN has got to be in this conversation.
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,783 Posts
    Yeah. The burgh got some steep ass streets! I like to take my wife and kids up (or down) Potomac Ave off Banksville when I'm in town.
  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
    dollar_bin said:

    1. (tie) 22nd between Church and Vicksburg (31.5% grade)

    Noe Valley represent! That street is nuts. A few laps up and down the steps on either side and I'm done.
  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    hogginthefogg said:
    dollar_bin said:

    1. (tie) 22nd between Church and Vicksburg (31.5% grade)

    Noe Valley represent! That street is nuts.

    It always annoyed me that Filbert got all the fame when 22nd is just as badass. True story, when I was a small child, I thought that the top of 23rd street just below Grandview where it changes grade was vertical.

    A few laps up and down the steps on either side and I'm done.
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