PETRA INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES’ BISHOP DONALD CLAY expressed joy at the news that East Hills Drive had been fully paved. For decades, the street was decrepit. (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)
Forgotten road, East Hills Dr., now fully paved
Anyone who has had the displeasure of making a right turn from Frankstown Road onto East Hills Drive knows the meaning of a “bumpy ride.”
If you were trying to get to Petra International Ministries church, or the East Hills apartment community along Wilner Drive, you couldn’t dodge those potholes even if you were a professional driver.
After a while, it seemed as if there was no hope. The road would stay that way forever.
But according to people like Bishop Donald O. Clay and Elder Jim Balthrop, God stepped in.
Today, the road is like new. Completely repaved, so smooth you could roll a bowling ball on it.
STATE REP. JOE MCANDREW, EAST HILLS CONSENSUS GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DIANE DANIELS, STATE REP. LA’TASHA D. MAYES AND PITTSBURGH COUNCILMAN KHARI MOSLEY CUT THE RIBBON AS EAST HILLS DRIVE IS NOW FULLY PAVED, DEC. 9, 2025. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
Tuesday morning, Dec. 9, 2025, was the morning that elected officials and other community members officially cut the ribbon on the newly paved street. Boy, it was a long time coming. More than 15 years.
“All of my political friends, without you guys this would not be possible,” Elder Balthrop of Petra International Ministries said at the morning ceremony. “I thank God that this has happened. All the contractors that were involved put in extra effort into what they were doing to make this happen for the church.”
Elder Balthrop added that it had to have been God who oversaw this, “because it’s too many moving parts for me.”
No case study is needed: Petra International Ministries had the worst road path to get to for a Black church in all of Pittsburgh because of the poor conditions of East Hills Drive.
What were the church members saying over the years? “That you lose your car, you lose your bumper,” said Bishop Clay, senior pastor of the church. “It was really, really bad. It really spoke to a neglect, a lack of consideration for the people that live in East Hills. It was debilitating, not only physically, but it was debilitating mentally to come up this road. It set a tone for what you were coming into, so today really does mark a revitalization.”
Technically, the road starts in Penn Hills from Frankstown Road. But most people recognize that road as a City of Pittsburgh road leading to East Hills. In fact, that’s partially why it took so long for it to get repaired. It wasn’t a city road, and it wasn’t fully a Penn Hills road. Some of the road was privately owned. So where would the money come to fix it? A state grant of $250,000 was finally “granted” to get the job done.
Bishop Clay spoke about a scripture that speaks on the whole earth declaring the glory of God. “This street, this road is actually speaking today,” he told the crowd. “It’s saying something, and what it’s saying is, it’s a new entrance into East Hills, which is prophetically saying, ‘it’s time for a new East Hills.'”
Twanda Carlisle, representing state Sen. Jay Costa, added: “I live in the East Hills community. I am here to see this today as we connect our community together, so that we can once again join in and love one another, and be a part of the whole community at-large.”