Sunday, September 09, 2007
By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Local officials will cut a ceremonial ribbon on a renovated bridge over the Monongahela River within the next two months, but unless you walk, jog or ride a bicycle, it’s not for you.

The old steel span sits parallel to the one-time industrial Hot Metal railroad bridge that was redone and opened in 2000 to accommodate two lanes of motor vehicle traffic between the Pittsburgh Technology Center and the SouthSide Works on East Carson Street.

If you’ve been in the area this summer, surely you’ve noticed $10 million worth of conversion work being carried out on the second Hot Metal bridge, especially at the northern end where the superstructure has been extended across Second Avenue to connect to what’s known as the “Jail Trail.”

Soon, when weather is suitable for bicycle travel, cars will be backed up end-to-end on the vehicular Hot Metal bridge at rush hours while office workers, students, physical enthusiasts and recreational riders whiz past on the rails-to-trails Hot Metal bridge.

The first weekend in November is when I’m hearing a celebration will be held to open the new bridge. Officials are being hush-hush about it. They want to make a big splash. They deserve one.

The new Hot Metal bridge could prove to be the biggest catalyst yet for a largely overlooked, two-wheeled transportation mode that has come out of the closet and is rapidly blossoming in popularity. It will be a traffic-free link not only to and from Downtown but Oakland as well, via Panther Hollow.

With our hilly terrain, variable climate, addiction to automobiles, reluctance to “Share the Road” and other challenging obstacles, who would have believed two decades ago that such dramatic change could have happened here?

Is the old City of Bridges becoming a new City of Bicycles?

Consider that:

The Riverlife Task Force and others are developing 13 miles of continuous trails and green space along the city waterfronts on a loop from the 31st Street Bridge over the Allegheny River to the West End Bridge over the Ohio River to the new Hot Metal bridge over the Mon;

The city marked off a bicycle lane along Liberty Avenue through Bloomfield this year, the first official new bike lane since special lanes were established years ago on Beechwood Boulevard in Squirrel Hill and through Schenley Park;

The Port Authority has expanded its “rack ‘n roll” program to 12 commuter routes using buses equipped with easy-to-use bicycle racks on the front. Bikes also can be taken on light-rail cars and the Monongahela and Duquesne inclines during all but weekday rush hours;

The Pittsburgh Parking Authority now provides bike racks at six Downtown garages. More bike racks are being installed in public and private places as bicycle commuting, general ridership and interest increase;

Tour Pennsylvania, a USA Cycling-sanctioned event, will begin in Philadelphia and finish in a reconstructed Point State Park in Pittsburgh in June, helping the city celebrate its 250th anniversary. Young cyclists from around the world will be competing for $250,000 in the internationally televised competition;

The third annual BikeFest ’07 held by Bike Pittsburgh this year was the biggest yet, with 40 events staged during a 10-day period. Visit the organizer’s Web site, www.bike-pgh.org. You’ll be surprised and impressed;

A corporate-sponsored Dasani Blue Bikes program offers free bikes to borrow to explore the city’s Three Rivers Heritage Trail. Details at the Friends of the Riverfront Office on the South Side (412-488-0212);

The Three Rivers Heritage Trail group belongs to a coalition of seven trail organizations building the Great Allegheny Passage, a 150-mile rail-trail system from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md., and a 52-mile Montour Trail. The former will link up with the 185-mile C & O Canal Towpath so someday soon you’ll be able to bike off-road from Downtown to Washington, D.C.;

More than 18 bicycle shops and rental outlets now operate inside city limits and elsewhere in Allegheny County, including Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park, Robinson and Monroeville;

The University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Parking and Transportation has a bicycle coordinator, and Pitt holds an annual Bike Fair. Carnegie Mellon University has a Cycling Club; and

Last but not least, Larry Walsh, a colleague and longtime outdoor sports enthusiast, writes a regular column and covers other bicycling news for the Post-Gazette.

I’ve just touched the surface of bicycling in Pittsburgh. There are many regional trails, and other organizations such as the Allegheny Valley Trails Association and Pittsburgh Wheelmen, and regular activities, such as a work party that the Pittsburgh Trail Advocacy Group will hold today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in North Park.

Ride on!