BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Oh I forgot to mention that the river trail ahs construction on it between 16th st and 31st, so i have to ride on river ave if i go that way for now. and its out of my way to get on it via going past the commons and over by the 9th st bridge to get on it. blah blah blah

What sucks is that they are closing 28 between 62nd

and 28, which is going to force all to butler st,

which I think is going to force a ton more cars

onto river ave in the race to get to smallman/penn

/ butler.

traffic free would go river ave/ 31st br/

right right onto smallman, to 36th cross and go

the wrongd direction up the one way alley that

forces you left... follow that until you hit like 38th or whatever and can cross the tracks into

the parkinglot of wesco. cross under the 40th

st bridge there and find plumber or whatever, then

climb the hill in the cemetery.

ps that is what you get for moving to the middle

of nowhere

Move out of Pittsburgh and start complaining about how our streets are on this side of the river. Sure. Keep it to Allegheny City y'hear.

If only you could legally ride through the cemetery in the mornings from Butler to Penn, that would be like a warp zone. You're right about the river trail construction being a royal pain down there, River Ave can be clear one moment and choked with giant trucks the next.

you people clearly have no respect for the annexation that i live in that was annexed purely for the building of 279.

I really did think about the cemetery. But I know that someone would catch me. My only solution to this problem is to quickly move to highland park.

Also I considered going allll the way down butler to go up one wild place, but with the future of rt 28 i dont know how that will be.

you are right steevo, i deserved this. i should never have abandoned howley street, especially in its recent time of need. have you biked through the cemetery?

Grow flowers in your yard. Pick a favorite dead person. Make up a story about them being your great aunt who went to Paris to be a can-can dancer and race bicycles.

Every day leave a flower or two on her grave, make up a different story about when she was young (remember when she got a job on a barge?), and be on your merry way.

Mick

Doesn't the 54C have bike racks? Why not freewheel it down to a busstop, then hop off on liberty and skedaddle over to Garfield?

call me crazy but i love that ride! hopefully i get back to pgh and start making it once again... where do you live in east allegheny? seems like the new cool place to be!

I'm an Allegheny West kid looking to do the same sort of commute, to the new Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville. Though honestly, reading all the comments and seeing all of the crashes on the map gives me second thoughts. Is it worth it?

Ekixi, note that all those crashes are going back several years, and Pittsburgh has been reported by most to have improved. In any case, you'd be no better off in a car, health-wise, according to science (by which I mean a study that I haven't dug up on Google).

People post here to gripe and talk about things that they might change. Still, the reason everyone on this board is here is because they ride their bikes all the time because it just plain feels great, in addition to all the less tangible benefits.

the ride from northside to garfield area can be a pretty safe one with the new bridge and the bike lanes (which are all new in the last two years)

make your way to the river from your house, get on the trail at the river, take the trail to the 32nd street bridge, cross to liberty, take liberty bike lane up to whichever little neighborhood road you want and cross over to the hospital.

also it's a fast ride home!

ekixi, it's worth it. Just be safe and respectable in traffic.

totally worth it. it's a great ride, in my opinion. i've ridden thru the cemetery a bunch, never had problems.

if you don't like friendship, try to work coral into your ride. that road is chiiiiiilllll

maybe i was just having a particularly bad ride the other day.

also i think i just was pissed at all the diesel traffic on smallman and on liberty.

i'll try the cemetery and see what happens

as for a ride to childrens you should be golden! just get across the 31st st bridge and take penn to butler, then zig zag up fisk to davison to 44th and up the hill. hospital is right there! if you want to ride together PM me. I might enjoy it more with someone else.

also mark--come back!! i live on middle street, at least for the summer.

also keep in mind i used to ride through frick and then all the way to the sci center from the 31st st bridge. it was like i didnt care about nothin man

from what i understand, trucks aren't even supposed to be on smallman, it's not a truck route. they are supposed to be on liberty.

erok,

I dont know if there is anything you can do, but

there are (in my opinion) a few companies that make

smallman a really bad road to ride on.

- pitt ohio - they are on 26thish and smallman and

have a fleet of trucks that constantly use smallman.

- Comm trans busses - they park down by the city pound and drive up and down smallman at like 50 mph. I had one trying to pass me in my car the

other day cause i was only doing 30 in a 25.

for what it's worth, companies react pretty strongly when their employees drive dangerously. if it happens again, try to get the id number on the vehicle and call it in.

Not to get too off topic, but I think bikepgh may have found another candidate for a dedicated bike lane? Smallman is in need of full depth pavement and sidewalk repair. Why not begin the discussions with the city now, in the conceptual stage of design, to promote a "complete streets" approach to the rehab work. It may not be implemented for another 5 years, but at least you were in the discussions at the inception of the project.

sharrows on penn and full lane on smallman?

// back on topic

I like the idea proposed earlier of taking River Road to the 31st bridge. A descent option to smallman, yes?

re: smallman

the city and neighbors in the strip have recently announced that they will undergo a study and brainstorming to rehab that whole "riverfront" area, and smallman is in the reach of the study.

April 29, 2009:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09119/966260-53.stm

we're going to be on the advisory committee.

I personally like the idea of turning smallman into a one way street, east, with a bike lane and additional on-street parking on there. then you have penn one way west, smallman one way east, then the highway of liberty ave. also, the trail to l-ville should connect soon enough.

I think racing up liberty is as safe as it is fast and easy. There's few cross streets to risk getting turned on, you can pace with the lights and often draft buses. Besides I'm sure that bike flies now!

"I think racing up liberty is as safe as it is fast and easy."

...not to mention the couteous drivers and ample riding room in between the pot holes! HA

erok, that idea for Smallman sounds perfect. I ride down into the strip from 28th and Liberty for lunch all the time and end up just taking the alley way in between Penn and Liberty because it's actually safer than Smallman. Smallman is the absolute worst.

When I travel through there, I take the alleyway (Spring Way), too. Teh bad thing is there is an implied STOP each time it crosses a road. The tarffic on teh cross roads is often fast

If they put 4 way stops up at all the interestection with Spring Way, it would be great. Yeah, you would have to stop for some cars once in a while, but for the msot part, you could blast through.

Mick

Re: trucks on smallman

in the morning smallman seems like it is all trucks. seriously. i know it is a designated bike route and damn the traffic on the street is no good with the trucks and potholes, at least heading east. i dont use it heading west as much--i actually use penn (one way, two lanes, lots of room, cars can pass easier)

however, re: ted, the bike is now a true truck warrior, and they know it thanks to the orange tape.

New less stressful route:

Take east Ohio to 16th St Bridge, right on Penn, right onto that cobble street, right on smallman, smallman to 36th, alleyway to 37th, left on butler, right on fisk, left on davison to 46th, right on 46th, open gate, ride through St. Mary's (bikes allowed!), left on penn to work.

Really all i need is like one or two minutes of park-like riding to ready myself for more traffic. Thanks for the input! I will use railroad instead of smallman one of these days, or take the trail to 31st like I have before (the construction starts at the 16th st bridge I think)

the wiggle. does everyone know about the "wiggle" in SF. it's a series of streets that cyclists take to get you up a big hill. but they act like switchbacks, so you're never really doing a serious incline. the roads are actually marked as "the wiggle."

i'm assuming there's a lawrenceville wiggle. caitlin, you have a mission

oh i already do the lawrenceville wiggle. it is short... you go up fisk since no streets connect w 40th, then you go over davison and then you could go up 44th, and then go over on sherrod, and THEN go up the now 2-way 45th to penn where friendship connects.

And all this time you guys thought I was climbing big hills. I've been exposed!

what about

you could take the city side trail up to 21st st then cross over smallman, penn, and liberty up to that street that like behind those buildings you can take that almost all the way up to where there's that underpass then you got the liberty bikelane. id take that up to the intersection after main and then friendship it there

huh i never thought of that. have you done that?? Where does the city side trail begin? Is it at the convention center?

you can catch the trail on the city side of the seventh st bridge.

i have done that, the city side trail is usually only occupied with geese and birds it's quiet, totally car free and then you just ride down (one way) 21st st to that lot/back road. it's super easy