Roads & Transportation

Private streets are those that were never built to municipal standards and thus, not accepted as public streets. Mt. Lebanon still collects trash, recycling and leaves and these streets, and still removes snow, since those are public safety issues. However, street maintenance must be done by the residents on those streets.

Residents of private streets who wish to have their street accepted by the municipality must follow this policy.

Resident Responsibility For Unopened Streets

Throughout the Municipality, there are parcels of ground that don’t seem to belong to anybody. In many cases, these areas were laid out decades ago by developers on subdivision plans and intended to be streets. However, for reasons unknown today, the streets were not opened to vehicular traffic and remained in their natural condition. Although the history and the applicable law vary with each example, it is usually the case that the Municipality has no legal interest in these areas because they were not opened or accepted as public streets.

In most of these instances, the abutting property owners have title to the center line of the parcels and the responsibility for their maintenance. However, these rights are often subject to the right of other residents in the same subdivision to use the unopened street area for at least pedestrian access. The Municipality performs no maintenance on these areas, except for occasional maintenance if required for public safety. The abutting property owners are billed by the Municipality for the time and materials consumed by such maintenance.

Property Status Inquiries

If you are a resident and you think your property may abut such an area, call or email the the Director of Public Works Rudy Sukal at (412) 343-3403 to inquire about the status of the property.