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Forbes Sharrows

I know we're all busy being soldiers of civil liberty, but who else noticed the new sharrows on Forbes?! There's also some parking buffer line things as well, but I like! I will now attempt to attach pics to my post:






bstephens
2009-09-25 12:32:01

so.. looking at the pics, there are sharrows on the downhill side and a lane on the uphill side?


netviln
2009-09-25 12:33:03

You know, I'm not totally sure, but I think they got rid of parking on the uphill side so ya it's a lane. That's why they build those curbs on the other side for people to park there I guess.


bstephens
2009-09-25 12:35:12

Nice! I'll have to head over and check the paint out in person, after I'm done cowering in my hole and waiting for the collapse of civilization to be over.


Of course, it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I guess the sharrows may well have washed away by the time I make it to SqHill.


reddan
2009-09-25 12:36:10

Looks good. I would have started dashing the bike lane sooner before the intersection with Schenley Drive, to better avoid right hooks. Hopefully, being on a hill, the rain will wash the debris out now that cars are less likely to drive to the right.


lyle
2009-09-25 13:03:08

This is great - I love the elimination of parking on the uphill side. I just rode this last night while trying to get home.


chinston
2009-09-25 13:57:17

Definitely appreciate the thought, but it's also exactly parallel to the supremely pleasant Schenley Drive.


alankhg
2009-09-25 15:57:29

doesn't mean you can't use both. there are alot of people on forbes.


erok
2009-09-25 16:15:18

When I used to bike to north oakland from Squirrel hill I used Forbes a lot, since it is more direct than the road through the golf course. I think they addressed the main problems. Share the lane and keep up with traffic on the way down. Bike lane for the slow ride up the hill.


Next, to do something about the ride over to wightman from where this all ends.


I'll definitely be sending a thank you to 311 for this.


lee
2009-09-25 16:34:09

Share the lane and keep up with traffic on the way down. Bike lane for the slow ride up the hill.


Not that very many cyclists would tackle Federal St on the NSide between Perrysville and Lafayette, but that street is the exact opposite. The steep uphill is very narrow; the blazingly fast downhill is a lane and a half wide.


I wonder how many others there are like this. Good to know that sanity holds forth in at least one part of town.


stuinmccandless
2009-09-25 16:48:10

...and done.


lee
2009-09-25 16:50:07

Not that very many cyclists would tackle Federal St on the NSide between Perrysville and Lafayette, but that street is the exact opposite. The steep uphill is very narrow; the blazingly fast downhill is a lane and a half wide.


I wonder how many others there are like this. Good to know that sanity holds forth in at least one part of town.


my girlfriend and i were riding up troy hill (blvd?) in a car just this past week when i noted that i'd ever gone up that hill, but had gone down quite a bit. i also noted that going down i always felt crunched and it seemed like climbing it would be difficult because of how narrow the street was. but that is another road that has it just right, with a barely-one-car lane downhill, and a nearly-two-car lane uphill. if only rialto wasn't so much fun!


hiddenvariable
2009-09-26 04:08:08

SO yesterday they added bike symbols and more sharrows all the way to Murdoch! It's so great.


bstephens
2009-09-26 11:06:45




bstephens
2009-09-26 11:08:05

That's killer.


rsprake
2009-09-28 01:44:29

I particularly like the onefrom up by Murdoch - the one withon=ut a bike lane, but with a symbol that says "Hey Beavis! Bicycles belong on the road!"


They should put about a thousand of those on various roads around town.


Mick


mick
2009-09-28 02:43:10

Oooh - here's my suggestion for the next batch of sharrows and/or bike lanes: Greenfield Ave.


chinston
2009-09-28 04:38:07

Greenfield Ave. is a good choice, but an even better one, in my opinion, for the next batch of sharrows and/or bike lanes would be Washington Blvd.I sometimes see cyclists riding up and down this dangerous road and someone is going to get killed.It's an accident that's waiting to happen.It's a main route for cyclists coming or going into the east part of the city,(Squirrel Hill,Shadyside,,Oakland,Point Breeze,and East Liberty).It's going to be attempted more when/if the trail will be extended up the Allegheny River to Highland Park.Let's put sharrows on Washington Blvd.


lenny
2009-09-28 13:22:28

Washington Blvd needs something, that's for sure, at least to connect Highland Park with the Oval.


bjanaszek
2009-09-28 13:49:32

One more reason Bjanaszek to put a bike lane/sharrows on Washington Blvd!! Thanks.


lenny
2009-09-28 13:55:57


Washington Blvd needs something, that's for sure, at least to connect Highland Park with the Oval.


There is some work being done right now to assess the feasibility/cost. the wheels are in motion


as for the rest of wash blvd. good lord what a mess. personally, i'd like to see a nice bike path along side of it.


erok
2009-09-28 15:26:43

is there any progress being made on a not ridiculous way to get from the end of the jail trail to the park... this in my opinion is the biggest hole in pittsburghs cycling infrastructure... followed closely by the railroad tracks/sandcastle at the end of the south side trail, but i know that story


imakwik1
2009-09-28 16:08:40

if your referring to Point State Park imakawik1,they are presently working on this and it should be finished early next year.After that they are suppossed to extend the trail from the point to Highland Park and beyond.


lenny
2009-09-28 16:19:04

That's going to kick ass.


rsprake
2009-09-28 16:30:37

Don't mean to hijack but when is Highland getting bike lanes?


dmtroyer
2009-09-29 15:13:17

i was actually referring to the other end, and schenely park... kind of funny that both ends have the same problem though.


imakwik1
2009-09-29 15:14:30

PS the forbes sharrows are great... i'm prtty psyched about that... its getting to be more a bike lane network now than a random assortment of bike lanes


imakwik1
2009-09-29 15:18:31

i was actually referring to the other end, and schenely park... kind of funny that both ends have the same problem though.


do you consider crossing the railroad tracks at the end of junction hollow and going through panther hollow to be ridiculous? or are you looking for access to a different part of the park?


hiddenvariable
2009-09-29 16:06:39

do you consider crossing the railroad tracks at the end of junction hollow and going through panther hollow to be ridiculous? or are you looking for access to a different part of the park?


What's the story with this these days? I've noticed that there isn't a guard in the lot most of the time, and the gate is always open. I see all sorts of folks cutting through the lot to get to Swinburne.


I'm also assuming that crossing the tracks is illegal.


I'm always very tempted to do this on the way home....


bjanaszek
2009-09-29 16:57:59

i meant the other end. the far end when coming from downtown.


hiddenvariable
2009-09-29 17:01:09

Oh, right.


Duh.


I've been meaning to ask my question, though...


bjanaszek
2009-09-29 17:17:18

i love how cyclists always post about this stuff before scott and erok get to. it's like it should just become a NEW BIKE LANE scavenger hunt from now on


caitlin
2009-09-29 17:44:56

I always imagined a nice little set of switchbacks leading from saline/boundary to bridle trail. Biking up that instead of greenfield ave...


dwillen
2009-09-29 17:53:30

this is on my route, and it is awesome.


argylepile
2009-09-29 18:25:40

i love how cyclists always post about this stuff before scott and erok get to. it's like it should just become a NEW BIKE LANE scavenger hunt from now on


HA! honestly we don't know what day they are going to actually do stuff. It's actually exciting to see other people find it and get excited enough about it to post


erok
2009-09-29 18:40:08

I definitely consider getting off my bike, illegally crossing a parking lot and two train tracks, and walking down a loose gravel road while still carrying my bike ridiculous.


not saying i don't do it all the time... but its dumb, unsafe, and illegal


imakwik1
2009-09-29 19:44:56

"a nice little set of switchbacks leading from saline/boundary to bridle trail"


I think the Parks Department tried to build this a decade ago but it quickly washed out. There's some evidence of the trail both at the bottom and the top. You can hike it, more or less. I don't know the whole story.


nfranzen
2009-09-29 19:50:38

Isn't the trail for this blocked by jersey barriers, just beyond the last house on Boundary? Or is that some other trail?


bjanaszek
2009-09-29 20:02:55

Whenever I walk the Bridle Trail I stare down the hill, looking for something resembling a way down, but never saw a path. Maybe if I look from the bottom up?


dwillen
2009-09-30 01:31:29

from the bottom, come up boundary street but go right into the woods instead of left under the RR tracks.


from the top, on the Bridle Trail, I think somewhere there's a bulldozed pile of dirt that blocks the no-longer-a-trail. The story I once heard and dimly remember is that it was part of the Schenley Park improvements ten+ years ago, but was not well-engineered. The slope was too steep and when the trail fell away, they gave up and blocked it off. But I don't even remember where I heard that.


The Bridle Trail, btw, goes from behind the pool around up over two nice stone bridges to Bartlett/Greenfield avenue.


nfranzen
2009-09-30 02:46:41

Dwillen, if you are headed towards Greenfeild the trail with the switchbacks cuts off at about a 30 degree angle, down towards the Greenfield Bridge.


It is far enough along that I didn't think that it would go into junction hollow, but it does. I haven't gone the whole way down the trail, because I was not aiming to go to JH when I explored it.


For me, getting over the tracks to Panther Hollow Lake is a great way into the park. I wouldn't try doing it without getting off my bike and carrying it across two sets of tracks, but, for me, that is no big deal.


Down by the parking lot is a different story.


Mick


mick
2009-10-06 04:00:19

ohhh... that's the bridle trail... i pre road the course for that race you spoke of... that would be a cool place for a trail, although the current alternatives are just as convenient


imakwik1
2009-10-06 18:43:17

from the top, on the Bridle Trail, I think somewhere there's a bulldozed pile of dirt that blocks the no-longer-a-trail. The story I once heard and dimly remember is that it was part of the Schenley Park improvements ten+ years ago, but was not well-engineered. The slope was too steep and when the trail fell away, they gave up and blocked it off. But I don't even remember where I heard that.


Back in 1999 the International Trails and Greenways conference was going to be here and Mayor Murphy wanted a trail built down that hillside from the bridle trail to down to the hollow. Unfortunately it was a pick any two of good, fast, cheap sort of thing and "fast and cheap" won out. The trail collapsed even before the conference and was never rebuilt. I think there was even some concern that it was causing landslides down onto some of the houses down at the bottom. For a long while you could see where it was pretty easily. It's probably harder to see now and you probably would find nothing at all resembling a trail near the bottom.


jeffinpgh
2009-10-06 20:11:56

Forbes in between Braddock and S Dallas has bike lane markings painted in the shoulders now. The exits from the lanes are still terrible and need a redesign ASAP.


rsprake
2009-10-09 14:12:39

It's moot now, since the lanes are full of crap already. I won't be using them until they're swept, if that ever happens.


lyle
2009-10-12 11:51:05

did you call 311?


erok
2009-10-12 12:44:01

Are they swept on the same schedule as the other streets? Every other week?


rsprake
2009-10-12 14:22:58