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Bloomfield to get bike lanes on Liberty

Thursday, May 24, 2007
By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Bike lanes and “share the road” signs are scheduled to be painted and posted along a stretch of Liberty Avenue through Bloomfield within a few weeks.

Joanna Doven, a spokeswoman for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, said it will take a day for public works employees to erect signage. The cost will be approximately $5,000.

Bicyclists have just one official stretch now, Beechwood Boulevard through Squirrel Hill.

Liberty, from 34th Street to Baum Boulevard, will be the second, and a portion of Greenfield Road is being planned, said Ms. Doven.

“We couldn’t be more excited about this,” said Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh.

The city Planning Department proposed the design last August, after a year of consulting with Bike Pittsburgh. It also consulted with Trans Associates. Key arteries were targeted after streets were measured for widths that make bike lanes practical.

Two lines will be painted to give drivers of parked cars a visual cue that a bicyclist may be coming along. One of the biggest hazards in riding near cars is what riders call being “doored.”

Mr. Bricker said his organization has been meeting with the city’s planning and public works departments monthly and has recently gotten a grant from the Richard K. Mellon Foundation to hire a traffic engineer to begin inventorying more streets for future lanes and signs.

“The fact the city is getting behind this effort and the fact this is the first inter-neighborhood lane is an enormous win for the city,” said Mr. Bricker. “It’s going to make people [on bikes] safer and make bicycling appear safer for new riders to join. We’re hoping to attract new people” to ride in the city. “We’re very encouraged” by the city’s overtures to the bicycling community, he said.

(Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626.)