Wednesday, April 04, 2018

Where Are The Steepest Ten Streets In The USA?

An LA Times columnist, Steve Lopez, answers this question in a story on the problems on Baxter Street in LA's Echo Park.  It seems that driving short cut apps like Waze are routing people onto this street and lots of people have trouble navigating it, especially when it rains.

The problem is that Baxter, with its Himalayan double dip between Allessandro Street and Echo Park Avenue, is not a normal street, and it was never meant to be a thoroughfare.
It was designed for goats, not people or cars.
Whoever built it, more than 100 years ago, must have gone on to design roller coasters. A video of a daredevil skateboarder blasting down Baxter has had nearly 1.2 million views on YouTube.
The Times has reported that Baxter ranks as the third-steepest street in Los Angeles with a 32% grade, behind 28th Street in San Pedro (33.3%) and Eldred Street in Mount Washington (33%).
Still, it’s on the list of the 10 steepest streets in the United States, seven of which are in California, and four of which are in Los Angeles, with Fargo Street in Silver Lake joining the others. Only two of the top 10 streets are in San Francisco, which is often thought of as a city of hills, and the famous Lombard Street (27% grade) doesn’t crack the list. The steepest streets in the U.S. are in Honokaa, Hawaii, (45%) and Pittsburgh, Pa. (37%).

OK, I'm embedding the skateboard video just so you can see this street.  The soundtrack is a bit raunchy so if you're showing it to little kids you probably should turn off the audio.  






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