Allegheny County belt system

The Allegheny County Belt System was developed in the late 1940s by Joseph White, an engineer with the Allegheny County Department of Public Works, as a wayfarer system using a network of federal, state, and municipal roads to offer residents alternative traffic patterns that did not lead to downtown Pittsburgh's congested Golden Triangle. From late 1951 to early 1952, the signs were posted throughout the finalized belt routes, starting with the Orange route, then Blue, Yellow, Red and Green. The belt routes were not intended as high-speed or limited-access roads, but instead as a well-defined road system away from the existing major arterials and their congestion. The construction of the Interstate Highway System and regional parkways during the late 1950s through the early 1970s initially reduced the use and need of the belt routes. As urbanization of the county spread further out from the City of Pittsburgh, however, the Belt System helped reduce suburban congestion. Many of the roads selected in the mid-20th century today play key roles in the long-range regional transportation plans of Allegheny County. Many of the roads chosen for the belts have been converted from simple country lanes to urban collector roads and to urban arterials. In its millennium edition, Pittsburgh Magazine (published by WQED television) recognized White as one of the one hundred most influential people of the 20th century in the Pittsburgh region. Rick Sebak of WQED television also produced a local feature on the Allegheny County Belt System in the 1990s. In the mid-1990s, the City of Pittsburgh developed a Purple Belt for the downtown area using the county system as a guideline. A sign from the belt system is a featured Pittsburgh landmark on Yinztagram. As of 2014, Pittsburgh does not have a true beltway, although the partially completed Southern Beltway is currently under construction as a partial beltway. Opponents of a full beltway have suggested residents should use the belt system, although some have said that the city doesn't promote it enough and wonder why signage for it is still maintained. ==Composition==

The Belt System consists of six beltways. The Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red Belts travel distances of , , , , , and , respectively. The Purple, Blue, and Yellow belts are complete loop routes, beginning and ending at the same points. The Orange Belt was a complete loop until of the southernmost stretch (including its entire stretch through Washington County) was decommissioned in the 1970s to keep the belt system entirely in Allegheny County. It still briefly traverses Westmoreland County in New Kensington. Before its 1980 acquisition by the Chevron Corporation, the PIttsburgh-based Gulf Oil Corporation published a map of Allegheny County prominently displaying the Belt System. Allegheny County produces maps featuring the Belt System. ==Descriptions of the Belts==

Red Belt The Red Belt is the outermost belt in the system. Unlike the other belts in the system, the Red Belt does not make a part of a complete loop—instead, it runs entirely east–west across the northernmost part of Allegheny County. The current Red Belt is long Grant Street and Boulevard of the Allies. (In the counter-clockwise direction, it follows Smithfield Street and 4th Avenue to bypass the left turn from Boulevard of the Allies onto Grant Street, which is prohibited at certain times.) This lies inside the area bounded by the Allegheny River, Interstate 579, Interstate 376 and Interstate 279. ==References==