BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

The reference to Shaler has me a little confused.... I used to ride from Bloomfield to the section of Babcock Boulevard in Millvale on a regular basis. It was a nice ride. As I recall, my route was to take the 31st Street Bridge to the Trail, or to River Avenue. At the Heinz Plant use the little streets (Progress, etc) to get onto Chestnut Street. Follow that north, onto Spring Garden. Follow Spring Garden to the top of the hill, then take a right onto Geyer Road. It will drop you on Babcock somewhere between the Rita's Ice Cream and the old Evergreen Hotel.

Ah...Whenever I referenced Shaler, I thought that was the area that Babcock Blvd. is in...I must have been wrong. Could I cross the 62nd Bridge?

I've only ever ridden the 40th street bridge in non-peak hours to E Ohio, but it didn't seem like a complete death wish.

You could cross the 62nd Bridge, but that would require riding over the hill to Millvale. Probably no worse than Swalfoot's route, as far as elevation change goes, though.

62nd will put you in the wrong stream valley, you'd have to climb over Parker/Seavey Road to get to Babcock, which you might not want to do on a daily basis (as far as I know, there's no river's edge route between Millvale and Sharpsburg).

40th might be a better choice, with only a small amount of nerve-racking negotiation on the north side of the bridge (and what's the nicest Squirrel Hill -> 40th St route?).

(answering my question: Reynolds, 5th, Shady, Howe, Aiken (across Baum), Friendship, Penn, 40th)

I use Babcock all the time. From SqHill, somehow get to the 40SB. Use the upstream sidewalk. At the end, if you don't mind dealing with traffic, just make the right, take the lane and ride down to the stop sign. To avoid traffic, cross 28 and use the sidewalk/path on the other side of the fence. Once you go up the very brief but very steep hill you are on Maryland Ave.; descend to stop sign. Same intersection but one extra left needed. Watch for traffic from left as they do not stop.

Go to end of street (by Attic Records) and turn right. This becomes Babcock. From Millvale it's almost dead level.

as far as I know, there's no river's edge route between Millvale and Sharpsburg

Well, nothing that's legal. If only the RR access road was open to the public....

Thanks, everyone! I go Friday, so hopefully I'll make it in one piece. I gave my car to my younger sister and am trying to do the bike thing, and its a little overwhelming sometimes, especially since I don't know the best routes and dealing with traffic is mildly terrifying.

My favorite SqHl-->40SB route (from Forbes & Murray): Murray, L Wilkins, L Fifth, R Amberson, L Bayard, R Melwood, cross Centre and Baum staying on Melwood past Pgh Filmmakers, L Denver Way, R Gold Way which becomes Melwood again, R Herron, bend R onto Ligonier (tight right is Liberty), L 35th St, R Butler, L 40th, and onto the bridge from there.

Much less traffic, avoids Liberty and Penn altogether, you're on Fifth only one block and Butler only five, you learn a sweet smooth backway out of Oakland, and get to go past Dozen in the process.

This also gives you a pretty easy shot at the 31SB from the bottom of Herron. Cross 31SB, L off of bridge onto River Rd, pass the turnoff for the island, hook left onto trail. This involves crossing the train tracks, but that's generally less of a deal than crossing car traffic 100 yards later.

Try a few practice runs over the next couple days if you can so that you're feeling confident and have the timing down by Friday. Also, if your bike hasn't been serviced lately it'd make sense to take it in for a tune-up, since it needs to take you to work every day, and make sure you know how to change a flat tire (especially crossing the 40th St. Bridge-- that's one glassy sidewalk).

Return trip, go inbound on Babcock past Rita's and Hardee's (i.e., keep to right at all the various bends), but once in Millvale proper, you're on North; turn L onto Grant (you'll then see Attic Records on right). Proceed through a couple of lights.

When you get to that weird traffic circle thing at the end of Grant, keep to right but then turn R onto Maryland Ave. It's a fairly steep but brief uphill. Dismount, cross the street, hop the curb and descend to the path/sidewalk to get to the 40SB intersection. This is MUCH preferable to battling auto traffic on Route 28, and as you said you are uncomfortable with traffic, it's a bit tricky making the left off that circle to cross the tracks so you can take the 31SB instead.

Once across the river, I generally climb 40th St to Liberty, L onto Liberty, R onto Bloomfield Bridge, but then I'm usually headed to Oakland. If dark or the weather is bad, I'll take the BB sidewalk. Maybe some of the others have better ways to get you back to S Dallas.