BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Really the trail only goes a couple hundred yards beyond the underpass by Millvale. Then it's railroad ballast, and an occasional railroad policeman saying you shouldn't be there, up to just short of 62SB. Not that either has stopped me from going that way. Possibly your best bet is to ride over to that bus stop by the plumbing place with the electronic sign, and catch an outbound 1 New Ken bus.

Highland Park Bridge via the sidewalk is another option. Riding the actual road on the bridge is not a great way to go. It's not entirely straightforward on how to acutally get on the sidewalk or where it's going to drop you off, but it's not that hard to figure out. There is also a sidwalk on the 62nd st bridge, which isn't that bad either, except that it ends abruptly and you have to haul your bike down a lot of stairs.

I ended up using the 62nd St. bridge and I gotta say Benzo, those stairs were much easier going down than they were going up a few hours later! I was amazed that the Waterworks had NO racks that one could use a U-lock on. At least none that I could find. Thanks for the tips Stu and Benzo.

Jack wrote:I was amazed that the Waterworks had NO racks that one could use a U-lock on. At least none that I could find.

last time i was at waterworks, i locked my bike to the most obvious place: the no biking sign. (it was a few years ago, and i don't remember the exact wording of the sign, but it was the obvious spot at the time.)

Eat and Park has at least a few Three Rivers bike racks. There is also a rack at the entrance to Club One (the back middle of the mall).

I bike over there and lock-up all the time. True, there are no racks (except as mentioned above). However, there are two sign locations that come to mind: Caty-corner from Giant Eagle, on the grass near the bank, and along the "inner passage" past Uncle Sams/Burgatory towards the cinema. That one is my favorite for the location. I'ce even locked-up to a garbage can right in front of Giant Eagle, ridden over there with my kids and never been bothered by security.

stu's way is the best. you honestly wont even notice that the trail has ended and you're on the access road unless you're looking for it. that road takes you to the bottom of the 62nd st bridge and from there its pretty bike friendly on freeport rd through sharpsburg. once you get past the highland park bridge though, i like to jog a block north to ride through aspinwall during high traffic times. this will drop you off on delafield rd a block from freeport (on the other side of the hospital from the waterworks. if traffic is still stupid high, i just take the sidewalk around the block and then go to the back of the waterworks on the road behind giant eagle and lock up to the no bikes signs by the theater.

For future reference the best way to go from the 40th Street Bridge to the Waterworks is up Butler, which is pretty good all the way to the zoo area. Then you want to time a crossing onto the sidewalk to get onto the sidewalk on the Highland Park Bridge. If you ride all the way up to where you almost would get onto the bridge you will see that the curb onto the sidewalk is a mess, which is actually good for a cyclist to just ride up on the sidewalk. You then just go across the bridge via sidewalk and loop down to the Mattress place and make your way onto the street via one of the many breaks in the curb. I usually take the left lane and take the first left in Aspinwall and run 2nd Street (oneway) all the way to Delafield. Then you can cut through the hospital and run alone the fence down to Taco Bell and make a U into the Waterworks. I also just take Freeport Road and it isn't all that bad. Depends on my mood. Sometimes I just like to not deal with many cars.