BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

This is up on Saturday. current url I did this ride maybe 5-6 years ago and enjoyed it; you get to do a decent chunk of the trail and you get free (real) food on your return. $35 at this time. Anyway, the Montour is a really fun trail. Dodging through that gun club, passing down long dark tunnels and across exotic exurbias, sneaking past the funeral parlor, and ending up at a fully-functional relic, cough, of the Mon's industrial glory. And in the middle, the option to just hop on a tram and scoot back to the city. But actually I'm hoping to get an answer to the following: In the past I've taken the bus to Coraopolis and biked up the road to the trailhead. I could also have disembarked on Neville Island and checked it out. I never did that but I'd like to. Here's the question: I understand that it's legal to bike across the I-79 bridge. But what's the definition of the "bridge"? My (maybe limited) Streetviewing doesn't turn up any signage. So, can I get onto the bridge from Neville Island, going south, then salmon down the next on-ramp to Coraopolis Rd? Have you ever done this? Yes, it would not be a big deal to continue on Grand Ave to Coraopolis and double back. Or should I just take the car?

I've crossed there a few times via I79. IANAL and IANYM (i am not your mother) but from the official perspective, you can only use I79 to cross the Ohio River. If you're southbound, I think you're supposed to exit onto Neville Island (rather than enter at Neville Island) (having said that, I know the guy who crosses the Ohio at I376, and rides the HOV lanes during the Triathlon weekend.)

I've never done it, but staying on 79 to the Cora Road exit and salmoning down the ramp intuitively seems like a super bad idea, if just to avoid the section on 51 there. And I am one who is not particularly rigorous about "rules", and "laws", and whatnot.

If it were me, I'd stick to Grand Ave to Coraopolis, then double back. Decent shoulders/multiple lanes and relatively well-behaved traffic the whole way.

Here's a streetview of a Motor Vehicles and Bicycles Only sign on the ramp from Neville Island northbound over the Ohio. Here's a streetview of a Motor Vehicles Only sign on the ramp from Neville Island southbound toward the Montour. I'd recommend the 21 CORAOPOLIS bus to either Neville Island or Coraopolis, then Route 51. But if you really want another option, the 20 KENNEDY just started serving Groveton, which puts you on 51 from the opposite direction, and closer (though it only runs M-F, so it's not very useful for Tour the Montour unless you've extremely patient).

@Steven, thank you for having the patience to locate the signage! Now we know. The 21 bus will be fine. I remember the stretch of 51 to the trailhead being relatively easy to deal with, at the least at the times of day I've been on it. Now, if I can get myself to the bus stop before 6:40am...

North Shore Trail, McClure, McRocks Bridge, Neville Island, turn left when exiting (be careful, the first Street is one way to right, the second Street is one way to left), very shortly turn left to parking for the tour. There are volunteers directing traffic. The parking lot for the event is unpaved.