BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Classic. Wish I had that option.

Will this be a single lane in one direction or something bigger than that? Will the parking be removed in both directions?

Or she could, you know, start biking.

sprake, it's going to be a single lane outbound (against the wall) with, supposedly, a wider sharrow lane inbound

This is fantastic. I absolutely dread riding that stretch of Carson St. with cars parked there.

Are there plans to keep drivers from parking there?

@rsprakeI guess that is the ultimate deciding factor in just how awesome this new bike lane will be.

i'm still just going to ride bingham street. you guys can have that carson street bike lane with it's red lights and incessant traffic. if it get's more people on their bikes for their excursions through the s'side great, it's just not going to change a thing for me.

love,

the curmudgeon

This is pretty amazing and speaks volumes about the strength of BikePGH's advocacy, well as the city's receptiveness to such improvements.

As for keeping it clear, the city just needs to let the private tow truck companies address the issue.

Are there plans to keep drivers from parking there?

from what i know, parking enforcement and the police are aware. i imagine that they will pay close attention at first.

the hope is that it get's clearly marked no parking and it will be obvious and unappealing to park against the wall

So how does this “connect” to the Smithfield St bridge? And what happens on the other end when the roadway narrows down by St. Johns church?

I like having more bike infrastructure for sure, but I see some issues here that will be difficult to address.

Marko - eventually, Complete Blocks will all link up to form Complete Streets. In the mean time...

Pretty darn awesome that the city is even considering it. I'm honestly very pleasantly surprised - given how hard paint is to put down, I'm amazed they're making a change like this.

Go BPGH, GO!

marko - it is not going to be a great connection to the smithfield st bridge. i believe the city is just putting in sharrows.

what this article failed to mention, tho is that this project will span the smithfield st bridge to hot metal bridge.

it's going to be a combination of bike lanes and sharrows along the stretch, depending on the space available. this is the only parking that's going away.

I've never measured Carson St but it seems wide enough in most spots for a door zone bike lane.

i believe the other bike lane sections are going to be east of the birmingham bridge, which is wide enough for a non-door zone bike lane

Cool. I hate how they redesigned East Carson but that would help me hate it less. Remember that nice wide grassy knoll on the Southside Works side?

Thanks for the info erok. I don't mean to sound negative, I just see some issues.

FWIW, I very much prefer sharrows to door-zone bike lanes.

Where in Mt Washington does this lady live? Take the incline down to St Sq. Why should she get free parking and everybody else has to pay?

waiiiiiit a minute...

"In addition, he said, the city does not maintain the riverfront trails during the winter, nor are they open at night."

So the Jail trail and the Millvale - Northside trail are closed at night? Why? How? And how is this supposed to be enforced? What are the penalties for using them? I've been there at night plenty of times, and we talk about it on the board all the time, so what's the deal?

The City is really excited about this project. Thanks to the BikePGH staff in all of the help and support. I just wanted to address a few questions and comments.

The facility will eventually connect to the Smithfield Street and Hot Metal Street Bridges. We're working on the route and design. No date for installation, but know that we're addressing the issue.

The 7th st transition from bike lane to sharrow isn't ideal, but there is no way around the design due to the width of the street.

The trail quote is a bit inaccurate. I meant to say that the southside trail closes. With that said, the closure is a passive closure and there is no enforcement that I know of. It's more of a recommendation of "don't use the trail at night because it's dark and isolated" closure, so don't worry about getting beef for riding on it at night.

Erok- thanks for relaying a lot of vital info!

@ejwme " the city does not maintain the riverfront trails during the winter, nor are they open at night."

I've ridden the soutside trail plenty of times at night, in the the winter and occasionally both. I live a life of crime.

Only problem is occasional snow. (which we in the U.S. are tryintg to overcome by not ratifying the the Kyoto accord. Seems to be working pretty well. U! S! A!)

After Snowmageddon, a bunch of us shoveled the Hot Metal Bridge and Junction Hollow trails.

Seems to me the city city plow some, regardless of the article's disclaimer. IIRC soem people here did a concerted 3-1-1 blitz about that.

mick, the jail trail is on the city's list for plowing. it's pretty low on the list, but on there

New bike lane coming to East Carson Street met with mixed reactions

Trading car parking for a bike lane? AWESOME.

This is a huge step in how the city deals with bikes.

I expect great wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Can we get the Millvale lane finished before they start this one?

+1 Pierce. If Ms. Kayla Meixner of Mt. Washington is not bright enough to just take the incline, there is probably very little we can do for her.

But it's FREE PARKING!!!

What will YOU PEOPLE want next, first born sons?!?

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

(Insert standard sarcasm disclaimer here).

edmonds, everybody knows the incline is for tourists and hot ballet dancing welders.

Stephen - YOU ROCK. That is a solid fact. Please continue being awesome.

(And thank you for the clarification... I was concerned that I was an unintentional scofflaw by just trying to avoid the heat of day! If I'm going to break the law I prefer to at least be aware of it)

Carolyn Jones is one of the many people Channel 11’s Dave Bondy talked to who is upset with the decision.

“I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’” Jones said. “Where are these people going to park? It’s going to be a mass riot because there is no place for them to park.”

EDIT: " “I was like, ‘What am I going to do?’” Jones said. “Where are these people going to park? It’s going to be a mass riot because there is no place for them to park” (...for free)."

I expect to see massive communication to the media and to our elected officials to the effect that "If we give bicyclist things like this, then we have to crack down seriously on bike scoufflaws going through red lights, etc"

Kinda like in MYC there are more bicyclists cited for traffic violations than there are truck drivers cited.

How much is parking in Station Square?

$105 monthly.

In PGH it's not about the price but the principle - "not only should it be free, I should be able to reserve it with a chair!"

the answer to your question orionz is "too much" or "I remember when it was only (fill in amount that it was in 1960, if not free)"

In 50 years, we'll be the curmudgeons ranting about how the first bike corrals were FREE, so why should we pay for parking?! At least I hope that infrastructure for us progresses over the next 50 years at least at the rate it has for motorists over the past 50 years.

Wasn't exactly my point but I am sure some of us can at least understand that the $105 might not be in the budget for her. What and how that should change is not really a topic here for debate, just that part of her objection should be understood.

It should also be explained to her how much safer the street is for everyone else. More taxpayers benefit from the bike lanes than those that park there.

orionz - I've never met a monthly parking fee that I considered affordable, and I wouldn't be surprised if Station Square was on the order of 300-500 a month to park there or more. I keep trying to get my mom to rent out her driveway (Oakland) but she refuses (she could get $300/month easy for it, and that's at a discount price for the neighborhood).

I'm not saying the loss of free parking isn't an extreme hardship to those who rely on it. One place I excitedly found out when I became "eligible" for a paid parking spot only to find out it was half my wages for the month (ironically, same day I became "eligible" for health care, which would have been the other half of my wages - yay "benefits"!). For someone on the edge, this represents a serious problem they're going to have to solve.

But it looks like it was never sanctioned as free parking by the city - instead it was co-opted by drivers and never marked otherwise by the city.

Besides, I'm guessing the reporters put the best sound bites in the paper, rather than the average opinion. Remember when they got rid of that big parking lot between the museum and Hillman in Oakland? Remember all the screams and hollering of "oh my god where will all those people park it was bad enough as it was" (I might have even been one of those in a tizzy)? The world ended the day they turned on that carousel, we've been in hell ever since. Hell filled with children's laughter and lounging sunbathers.

^ I’m not so sure that Carson will automatically become safer. Without the parked cars there - some drivers will feel more comfortable speeding through there and unfortunately, I don’t see some paint on the road changing that. I can also see the bike lane becoming an ‘I can go around that stopped car’ lane like happens near the Bloomfield Bridge. I hope I’m wrong on both accounts, but police enforcement of speed limits n’such is not something to be optimistic about.

I do think that this can be a wonderful opportunity to have some positive PSA type stories on the news though, rather than listening to some broad from Mt. Washington complain about losing her free parking. How about a story on what a sharrow is?

@EJ, I think they all park in Shendly Park now. Which causes its own problems.

People in Pittsburgh expect to be able to park directly in front of wherever they are. For free.

It should also be explained to her how much safer the street is for everyone else.

how will the streets be safer with all the rioting over lack of parking?

this is amazing news, and there's going to be a lot of people bothered by it (i hear tell that the residents of bloomfield were pissed when the bike lanes were put in, because, well, i don't know? but apparently they were). but it'll blow over.

it's funny that they used as an example someone who already walked a few blocks, and now simply has to add something that people pay to do for the fun of it as part of her commute. i don't envy the increased economic burden this will be to her, but that's what happens when we stop subsidizing something. suddenly you have to pay for it.

So ALMKLM, biking should be an easy sell, yes?

Marko, I was thinking a bit of the same thing, the narrowness of that stretch provides an awkward kind of traffic calming. People who have been parking in that stretch have been risking their lives for traffic calming. For free. American heroes.

With proximity to the light rail station, Smithfield street, Allegheny Passage, all we would need is a bike phase at that traffic signal to provide Dutch-grade infrastructure Pittsburgh style

TIGER IV program funding, perhaps?

I hope they will be enforcing no-parking regulations there, with towing... Every morning I'm used to seeing parked vehicles on millvale ave lanes by west penn hospital.

I put in another 311 ticket after automated entrance system vans were parked in the bike lane 2 days in a row...

@orionz06

I think there is a cheaper rate parking lot across the street, but I can't make out what it is on Google Maps.

I can understand that change is annoying, while at the same time, I don't want to delay implementing healthier infrastructure because some lady has been having a pretty good deal for however long this has been going on.

To add on to what others are saying, it's not "free parking." We're maintaining that road, we're subsidizing her gasoline, we're subsidizing her increased overall medical bills from lack of exercise, we're inhaling her exhaust. I think short trips like that pollute the most too. So why does she get to put all of that on us?

Furthermore, if she can't afford to pay $100 in parking, how much is she paying to drive the car up and down the hill everyday, insurance, car maintenance, etc? I think cars are probably one of the poor people's greatest enemies.

$105 a month to park? A monthly transit pass is $97.50.

Y'know, if 50,000 drivers would just start paying fare, whether they rode the bus or not, PAT could close its budget hole without bothering Harrisburg at all.

This would be a nice start.

EDIT: For a large part of MtWash, if you take the 40 MtWash bus OUTBOUND in the morning, it takes you right to the Duquesne Incline. Ride that down and catch any of about 10-15 bus routes for a two-minute trip into the city. It's a double transfer, so cash and ticket riders are screwed ($2.50 + $1 + $2.50 again), but pass riders are good to go. Outbound morning means the bus is empty, except for the few who know that trick.

@StuInMcCandless

50,000 * $100 = $5,000,000 per month or $60,000,000 per year. IMMSMC, current revenue from ticket sale is just above $100,000,000. And budget is more than $320,000,000. How?

it's great news. thanks!

The deficit is $64M. 50K people at about $1,200 annual fares each would be $60M of that $64M. By rough numbers, it's close enough. The point is, people would rather spend 5x to 10x the cost of annual bus fare to get themselves around by car. Getting rid of parking might cause more people to use transit, allowing it to be more able to pay for itself.

People's next biggest objection to using transit is that "it's too far to get to the bus stop". Solution: Use bicycles to cover that distance.

Thus, my fixation with transit and bicycles. Anything but the car.

These are good things happening.

i wish there were big parking lots outside of the city and you could leave your car there and bike into the city from the parking lot i guess if you wernt in good enough shape to bike there could also be buses

Wow channel 11 kinda shit on this with the tone and wording tonight on the 10pm news on fox. They ended up interviewing a cyclist who made a good point about how it will improve safety, but they presented it like it was a horrible thing and bad for a local business cause people may have to walk their fat asses from some other place nearby where they can probably park instead.

I just read a PG article

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/plan-in-works-to-avoid-port-authority-cutbacks-643253/?p=0

I shouldn't be putting down the union guys when they are making concessions. That is a hard, hard thing for a union to do. Although the union members are all well-paid, you know some of them are living paycheck to paycheck and this is gonna hurt.

Also I feel like a fool - article is weeks old and I'm talking sh*t about stuff I don't know anything about.

"i wish there were big parking lots outside of the city and you could leave your car there and bike into the city from the parking lot i guess if you wernt in good enough shape to bike there could also be buses"

Some genius bought a bunch of swamp land in Florida and built just such a place and called it "Disney World". People love it. Except nobody's in good enough shape so it's just all buses.

I am 15. If I drive, someone goes to jail. I go everywhere I want by myself— no rides. Many people do not realize that you can get from Tarentum to the Airport by bus: 2 buses. I think we need to let people know how easy it is to get around town by bike and transit. That Mt Wash woman may honestly just not know what her alternatives are. The only reason I do is because there is no alternative for me. But it's proven to me that (before these massive looming cuts) you can stick a pin pretty much anywhere in the county and get there on two buses. But if no one tells these people they'll never know.

+1 W Roger

Wow, it's nice when someone else shows up out of nowhere and says precisely what I've been saying for 20 years now.

It's all about knowing how to make the system work for you. Non-intuitive and counter-intuitive connections (like an outbound bus and a double transfer to get Downtown in the morning), combined with the complexity of the fare system, have chased people away from using the system, so they drive. Get past that, and the system works pretty well.

My only complaint is time. I don't have enough of it, the bus does not work for me. Biking is faster. Especially now with all sorts of ramps and bridges closed sporadically the ability to ride a bike to work is that much better. Sort of sucks to have to shower when I get home but the time is still saved and I am all cleaned up.

I think that you will see younger generations adopt more and more public transportation and alternative modes of transportation.

In the year and half I have lived in Pittsburgh it seems that I have noticed more and more people biking around town. I wonder if you measured it now, what would be the bike commuter %, I am willing to be higher than the 1.6% last reported.

Aside from the immediate issue, you would hope our News Reporters would have the wits to ask the questions that immediately come to some, such as Why do some people think they deserve free parking? Or why not just take the incline? Reporters are just lining their ratings by playing to the most sensational angle, not a public service. Pathetic.

Also, plus 1 Roger and zjc2a!

What businesses are there that will even be effected? As the woman in the original article proved, people are parking there for free and walking to work which means that the spot doesn't get used by a customer anyway.

Domino's is all I can think of. There's some auto repair place there too.

Went past there today and had the same question... What businesses will be impacted? More so, on the one video where the lady was working in what appeared to be her home, what business does she own that she claims will be impacted?

If they want to free up parking they can meter the other side of the street.

There are some businesses that will suffer. The bulk of the tenants in the Terminal Building, for example. And a few small businesses (Rivas, the Nicaraguan restaurant, comes to mind). It is probably bad for them. But, overall, a horrible place to park unless you have an immediate need in the immediate neighborhood.

As far as tenants in the Terminal building go (that's where I work), there are a fair number of people who bike to work most days. There's perfect access right along the Three Rivers Heritage trail, which makes for a nice ride from Station Square or if you're coming from the east (Shady Side, Squirrel Hill, Oakland, etc.).

I don't think the removal of this section of parking will affect the majority of Terminal building tenants, as there is adequate parking in other areas around the building (there's a parking lot and on street parking between Cabot Way and Bingham St., as well as a parking along the river).

Honestly, I think this is one where the news actually got it right with the lady they interviewed. My hunch is that most people that park there work in station square and don't want to pay to park.

i used to work in the building there. they have a parking lot. without a doubt most of those people are driving in and parking for free cause it's a quick walk to the southern end of downtown

I had no idea there was a Nicaraguan restaurant in town. Since I've never eaten that kind of food that I know of, it's now tippy top on my list of places to try. So the lack of parking has now gotten them at least one additional customer....

but urban spoon says they're closed (and their website is down) http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/23/334204/restaurant/South-Side/Rivas-Nicaraguan-Restaurant-Pittsburgh

what's the story? (sorry to pull so OT, but food is important)

Anyone ask them about the availability of bike racks at their location, if they are open? Perhaps they are completely unaware that people get places in other ways than a car (doubtful).

Bike lanes are good.

Public transportation just does not work for our family. When my younger daughter got admitted to Mckeesport PSU campus she started to use T and buses (and I started to use T to get to work). 3.5 hours of commute per day was about as far as she could go. But then PAT cut 56C going to the campus and it became 3 hour commute one way with 2 transfers. or 6 hours per day. So we abandoned public transportation since T does not let you use bike during rush hours. And PAT lost our ($105+$138)*12 money.

Actually, the T does allow bikes at all hours now, iirc

Well, last year kind of. This is a quote from PAT web site:

Bikes on the T

Bikes are allowed on the Port Authority's light rail system – commonly known as the T – at all times in either direction. Riders may load/unload their non-folding bikes at high-platform stations only. View a light rail system map that identifies high-platform stations.

Two bikes are permitted per light rail vehicle and must be stowed in the designated wheelchair spaces. Persons in wheelchairs have priority over bicycles.

When I was using T the last paragraph would made it impossible for me to get on a T at a given time.

I don't really take the T much (maybe once every few years), so I hadn't really thought about that. I wouldn't want to take my chances, now that I think about it, though

Well, there was a person in wheel chair going to work I assume. And I am not going to compete for the spot. And back then bie weren't allowed during rush hours.

I can't wait until the media blames the bike lane for the restaurant closing.

A woman I went to grad school with lived somewhere near Brownsville & Agnew in Carrick, and commuted to Equitable Gas on S.9th & ECarson. Drove every day. Said she didn't want to figure out the bus schedule. Unflippinbelievable, since the 51C had 12-minute headways during rush, and the service covered 21 hours a day.

I went to the transportation meeting at guardian storage in the strip last night.

We had several people advocating for some sort of circulator bus between the strip and downtown, and the strip and Bloomfield, and my group had a couple people who live in Strip condos (Cork Factory & Otto Milk, I think) wanting parking, parking, parking--"if we add more residential, where are they going to park?"

Near Cork Factory, there are 220 trips each direction among the 86 Penn, 87 Friendship, 88 Liberty, and 91 Butler routes, covering from 4:25 a.m. to 1:40 a.m.

Learn how to use the system! You don't need a friggin' car! That is the message PAT needs to be pounding into the public consciousness. Part of the problem is that the property owners and managers are 50 or older, and never knew a time that cars were anything other than a necessity. You might not eat, but you had a car, by gawd. They're the ones making the decisions, they're the ones whose minds most need to change.

That Mt Wash woman may honestly just not know what her alternatives are.

Said she didn't want to figure out the bus schedule.

I suspect nothing could be quite as illuminating to the transit-unaware as plugging their commute into Google Maps and clicking on the "Transit Directions" button. Am I the only one who has an idle curiosity of how one would get from various places to various other places on public transportation and runs many variations on that?

Surely there are tricks, transfers and special routings that you can really only intuit with experience, but a well-integrated transit mapping service does a lot of the legwork and thinking for you.

(Private to Stu's grad school friend: http://goo.gl/maps/ikcM)

> The trail quote is a bit inaccurate. I meant to say that the southside trail closes. With that said, the closure is a passive closure and there is no enforcement that I know of. It's more of a recommendation of "don't use the trail at night because it's dark and isolated" closure, so don't worry about getting beef for riding on it at night.

Perhaps the solution is to light the trails and make them more friendly, then.

Spring Way through the Strip is dark and isolated at night, but it's still open (and, in fact, is my preferred route at night, since Liberty traffic is so fast, and Smallman so unpredictable).

"The trails are part of the park system, and all the parks close at night", the city might say. As was pointed out when I suggested this might be the reasoning, Serpentine and other roads through Schenley Park are open at night...

"if we add more residential, where are they going to park?"

Good thing there are parking minimums. Every residential building has ugly parking garages attached to them. If they want to fix the parking problem they need to get rid of the free parking. People park on the street in front of business and go to work all day.

I don't see this parking as being much different from, say, Brereton Street in Polish Hill, where half a dozen residents routinely park against a retaining wall at the top of the hill, or various other parts of town. I don't use it, and am not going to miss it--but I ride through this area occasionally, and compared to similar roads elsewhere, it feels like speeds are kept (relatively) low by the parking on both sides. It seems to me that removing the parking will make the road seem wider and more open, and cars will just go faster.

I think removing parking and adding bike lanes is generally not a bad thing. I'm just not sure in this particular case it's going to help much.

Maybe if they put enough candlesticks or other traffic calmers in the road, it could help.

@ejwme - I walk by Rivas every day on my way to the T station, it's been closed for months. Maybe even an year at this point. Not surprised, really, it's a terrible location. They shoulda stayed in Carnegie.

Sigh. Nicaraguan cuisine shall remain on my list then.

Just wondering, why is this section of bike lanes necessary? What about Bingham Street or the South Shore Trail? Don't they essentially cover the same stretch, without major traffic?

There are a few advantages...

1) the trail officially closes at dark, while not enforced, it's not well lit. This can be a more effective route at night. It takes a small light to be visible at night, but a very high power one to see effectively on an unlit trail.

2) the parking is unsafe and should probably be removed anyway, a newly wider road, even unmarked for 2 lanes will be adapted by drivers often as an additional traffic lane or cutaround will make the roadway even faster and more unsafe.

3) Adding the bike lane should provide a narrowing effect to the traffic lanes and provide a safer alternative for cyclists who choose to use the street.

4) This is part of the plan to connect cyclists to the CBD of the southside via downtown using the smithfield street bridge. This isn't just one bike lane, it's a series of bike lanes and sharrows that will link station square and the southside works.

5) The trails can be incredibly slow for commuting cyclists when they are filled with dog walkers, recreational walkers, joggers, and slower recreation cyclists.

6) The only way to connect to the trail or Bingham st from the smithfield st bridge requires either riding on to the sidewalk and / or going down a one way alley the wrong way to access... this isn't the right way to do it. There should be a proper route for cyclists that doesn't require these 'workarounds'.

Also there's the stupid little sad section behind the Terminal building where someone has a sign that says "No bikes, pedestrians (arrow)" What is the story on that anyway?

In April, Friends of the Riverfront posted a status message on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail group that addressed this:

"South Side Segment from 4th to 2nd. Easement from terminal Building secured, currently negotiating with CSX for property to connect straight through."

The National Gateway railroad project is doing work in that general area, lowering some tracks by a foot to increase the clearance under the Smithfield Street Bridge for taller trains. That involves an extra parallel track segment for a while, as they dig out the new location. It could be that CSX is waiting for that activity to finish up before agreeing to give up any property. (This is entirely speculation, and it could be nothing to do with this.)

Cool. Glad to hear it.

Here is the Post-Gazette article on this, along with the comments you'd expect from the Facebook malcontents and cry-babies.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/transportation/pittsburgh-to-convert-south-side-free-parking-area-into-bike-lane-645797/

Also one of a few pro-bike comments from a consitently astute commenter:

"The city should have a bias toward using roads to get around, not as free parking for private property [i.e., cars] in public space."

I went past this stretch a few times over the weekend and several new no parking signs have been put up by the City. But it looks like the people who park here are just ignoring the signs.

What is the frequency of using 311 that is considered abuse? Separate days. Say a car is parked there each day, daily reports acceptable? What if a pic is attached of their plate?

On Saturday evening I encountered about five cars parked on the bike trail by the casino. I asked one of the off duty cops who was directing traffic who I could call to report this. He said to call 911 – so I did. I told the dispatcher right away that it wasn’t an “emergency” and then told her about the illegally parked cars. When I came by an hour later there were fewer cars parked on the trail. Not sure if the owners moved them or a city tow truck helped them disappear.

***damn cyclist taking up ALL of our parking spaces***

It looks to me like the edge of the casino parking lot needs to be more clearly marked. If I were parking (and every few months I do park a car) in that lot the way it's pictured, I'd be right next to the car there.

Every one of those cars seems to be backed into position--I wonder if that's a valet company's fault...

@b buffalo, the most distant car that is on the trail (right below the yellow shirted pedestrian) seems to be in head first.

I’m pretty sure this is an employee lot. It was very full because there was a sold out Pirate game that night (fireworks too). It’s very obvious that the trail is separate from the parking lot, and I think they just didn’t care where they parked – just like the cars in the bike lane on Neville.

My personal favorite is when the employees are driving on the trail itself in order to park in that "lot", and become offended that there is a legitimate trail user in their way.

i almost got hit there last year by a casino employee parking there

looks like there's an opportunity for some official reaching out / education for the Casino from some kind of cycling advocacy organization that carries local weight and has some delightfully charming and persuasive yet overworked employees... Hmm...

I biked up and down that stretch of Carson, and something seems to be afoot. Cores have been taken for the sidewalk and street, while sewerage, storm, electric and comm lines have been marked.

Is verizon going to tear up that section of Carson, and then we get bike lanes?

Also, the outbound part carson at 7th street where the road necks down to two travel lanes and no parking on either side will be bad for everyone other than tie fighters.

sloaps, clearly you have not been in PA long enough

They're going to put down some nice thermoplastic bicycle markings on the street, and THEN tear it up for Verizon/People's Gas, PSWA whatever

No, they're going to put down a nice layer of asphalt first, then the thermoplastic markers, THEN tear it up to put in utility lines.

This makes me wonder when the sharrows on Hamilton & Friendship will be reinstalled.

Thanks for reminding me to submit that to 311.

I believe Penn Hills recently passed a law that if a utility dug into the street within 2 years of it's repaving, they had to repair it to brandy-new status (not the piss poor patches they used to do), or else pay PH the cost to re-pave the whole road. It's changed the digging order nicely in a few places. I think Monroeville has a similar one, though I can't be sure. Pgh could do with an ordinance like that.

But even then, the customers still foot the bill and the people driving on the road still have to deal with the inconvenience.

For example, in West Mifflin on 885, which goes right by my job, was repaved with tar and chip about two years ago. My MP3 player fell out of my pannier and subsequently got paved into the road.

Shortly after that, they tore out the shoulders and put in some nice asphalt shoulders, which were smoother than the main road.

Now they've tore up all the asphalt again and are putting in these weird lane-sized concrete squares in the ground. (I should get a photo for Sloaps)

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/letters/bicyclists-must-follow-the-rules-of-the-road-646419/

Letter to the editor about the bike lane today in the PG. Once again, the theory is that cars obey all traffic rules unlike cyclists. Infuriating.

Probably, as a bicyclist community we should at some point conduct experiments. Let say 20-50 of us with some sort of cameras staying during rush and non rush hours at different intersections, street stretches with posted speed limits 25-35 and taking cars and license plates on cameras. And then create a special account (bike-pgh?) on youtube and posting those videos there with some info -- number of car violated the rules. And video can help estimate speed of vehicle. This is going to be a killing argument.

The "Cars Hitting Buildings" thread could also be a public google map...

I've been keeping track of all the reported incidents.

@rsprake, i love that tumblr idea. its more focused than the actual forum, but still keeps the same (sarcastic) feeling.

Turn that frahn upside dahn, there's a new bike lane in tahn.

Nice! just in time for my group ride next week!

Looks beautiful, a nice addition to that area, I will definitely make that part of my ride this evening.

for those whom have not yet had the opportunity to see the lane in person.

these were taken on 08/02 around 1pm @ 3rd ave & carson.

big trucks were in the area, but i didnt feel squished at all.

2nd picture. car riding over line into bike lane. didn't take long.

wish there was a bit of buffer space between the bike lane and traffic lane...

still beats the pants off of illegally parked cars.

Yeah I came through there around 4pm while I was spray painting road hazards for Sunday's ride. It took all of my self control to not "mark" the car/hazard that was parked in the bike lane, I mean that can was right there in my jersy pocket... At least there was a ticket under the wiper blade.

Should have spray painted "asshole" on the ticket.

and by painting the "ticket" you mean windshield right?

Haha

I looked briefly last night and it almost looked like there was an illegally parked car, and the line painters have left a gap where the car was parked.

Real comedy would have been for the line painters to just continue the stripe over the car.

normally when im heading east from station sq i'll double back to the river & user the bike path, but today i proudly rode the entire span of the new lane.

a slight traffic buffer would be nice, but if you stay on the right side its a comfy ride.

So, going eastward, from the eastern end of the new lane, what's the safest, least complex way to get to the river trail? (assuming I don't care to duke it out with cars and buses on either Carson or Sarah, or for that matter, Muriel)

There just are not that many entry points to the trail, and I'm not south often enough to have them memorized.

Plus I won't be the only person who would want to know this info.

The start of the lane is lil bit past the intersection of Arlington & Carson and the other endd is @ Carson & 9th.

If your on the Heritage trail thru the Station sq parking lot one could turn up S. Second St (at the pen dot facility) and head to Carson. The other end lines up with the Heritage entrance on S.9th st (at the train crossing.)

The portion of the trail that is bypassed is the part with the parking lot & the new trees along the river's edge.

pictures being worth a thousand words...

That's a big one!

That's what she said

/facepalm

I should start carrying a dry erase marker with me to leave people notes. Once, I wrote "JERK" in the dirt on someone's window when they were blocking the crosswalk, but I'd rather have written "GET OUT OF THE CROSSWALK." just didn't want to use my hand to do it.

@RubberFactory:

I'll keep the dry-erase marker in mind as there is someone parked blocking the crosswalk at the corner of Semple and Ward Streets in Oakland like 90% of the time when I go past there.

while I was spray painting road hazards for Sunday's ride.

I have noticed lots of utility access points with crumbling pavement etc. with orange boxes or arrows around them lately!

I've occasionally thought of the pink "Y" hazard markings, discussed at http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/crashing-bike-stencil/page/2 , over the past year or so.