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A step street is a thoroughfare fitted with steps for pedestrian traffic rather than paved or tracked for motor vehicles. It is a practical way of providing access up and down a slope that is too steep for automobiles. Step streets consist of a staircase of stone or concrete steps, often with a handrail on posts down the center, and sometimes lined with trees. Examples can be found in hilly urban areas.
Step streets fell out of popularity with urban designers as the use of the automobile increased in cities, and some step streets have been removed and redesigned as graded walkways to address accessibility concerns and to allow other wheeled transport such as bicycles, strollers, and wheeled shopping baskets.
In the early 2010s, efforts were made to restore some of these open-air staircases in
A step street is a thoroughfare fitted with steps for pedestrian traffic rather than paved or tracked for motor vehicles. It is a practical way of providing access up and down a slope that is too steep for automobiles. Step streets consist of a staircase of stone or concrete steps, often with a handrail on posts down the center, and sometimes lined with trees. Examples can be found in hilly urban areas.
Step streets fell out of popularity with urban designers as the use of the automobile increased in cities, and some step streets have been removed and redesigned as graded walkways to address accessibility concerns and to allow other wheeled transport such as bicycles, strollers, and wheeled shopping baskets.
In the early 2010s, efforts were made to restore some of these open-air staircases in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
Examples
* In New York City, there are 102 step streets across the city'sfive boroughs
5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number.
Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs.
Mathematics
5 is a Fermat pri ...
. Of these, the majority (64) are in the Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
. Others are scattered through hilly areas of Upper Manhattan
Upper Manhattan is the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, 110th Street (the northern boundary of Central Park), 1 ...
, Queens
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, and Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
. Some of the more notable step streets in New York City include Bushman Steps, which led to the Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the ...
stadium in Upper Manhattan, as well as the Joker Stairs
The West 167th Street Stairs, colloquially known as the Joker Stairs, are a step street connecting Shakespeare and Anderson avenues at West 167th Street in the Highbridge, Bronx, Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Located n ...
in the Bronx, one of the filming locations for the 2019 movie '' Joker''.
* The city of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
maintains over 700 sets of steps, some of which are classified as streets as part of a traditional street grid
In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at Angle#Types of angles, right angles to each other, forming a wikt:grid, grid.
Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, fr ...
and often mapped as such with a disclaimer for drivers.
* Rue Foyatier in Montmartre
Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...
, Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, is said to be the most photographed staircase in Paris, with over 250 steps.
* There are also several step streets in San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, California. One of these is the Lyon Street Steps between Broadway and Green Street in Pacific Heights
Pacific Heights (often referred to as Pac Heights) is a wealthy neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States. It has panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, the Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, Presidio of San Fr ...
, with 332 steps. Another, the Filbert Street Steps, descend the east slope of Telegraph Hill and run through the Grace Marchant Garden, tended by the residents who live along these steps. In total, there are 600 public stairs in San Francisco, not all of which are step streets.
*The town of Gurabo, Puerto Rico
Gurabo () is a Gurabo barrio-pueblo, town and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in eastern Puerto Rico. It is located in the central eastern region, north of San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, San Lorenzo; south of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, T ...
, is popularly known as ''Pueblo de las Escaleras'' ("town of the stairs") due to the number of step streets in the district of El Cerro near the center of town.
*In Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, Rue Saint-Christophe contains both stairs and a small slide, and is part of Parc Simonne-Monet-Chartrand.
See also
* Ladder streets * Perron (staircase)References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Step street Types of streets