Version 6 of the Pittsburgh Bike Map will be another milestone for safe streets

By Dan Yablonsky
Set the stage: Pittsburgh, 1990. The City had just undergone two decades of arguably the most sever population loss ever seen in this country. Our city was topping lists, but not ones to be proud of.

Pittsburgh was one of the three worst cities in America for bicycling.

Then Mayor, Sophie Masloff, snapped into action. She formed the Bicycling in Pittsburgh Committee to improve safety, and commissioned the City’s first-ever bike map.

These efforts paved the way for Pittsburgh mayors Murphy and Ravensthal to continue the momentum with trails, sharrows and bike lanes. So when 2007 arrived; we’d seen tons of bike improvement, but no new bike map? Enter, BikePGH.

We took up the creation of a new Pittsburgh Bike Map as one of our first projects. Hours and hours of outreach, design, and revision by the (small) BikePGH staff and board, dedicated volunteers, and DeepLocal – the design/marketing firm that has been a crucial supporter since the beginning. By Fall 2007, the first edition of BikePGH’s Pittsburgh Bike Map was born.

Fast forward to today – past 5 award-winning editions, 250,000 distributed copies, millions in investment in dozens of miles of on-street bike routes – and BikePGH is proud to bring you some big news:

Version 6 of the Pittsburgh Bike Map is almost here

This is going to be the first version since fall 2013. That means there will be some big, new, exciting additions because the last three years have been some of the most important years to date (Thanks Peduto! – but seriously, thank you Mayor. Your support is humanizing our streets). Here’s a hint of what to expect in Version 6:

• New protected bike lanes! This will be the first time we’ve had to represent bike lanes that are physically separated from car traffic.
• Comes with new colors! for “Protected Bike Lanes”, “Recommended Routes”, “Cautionary Routes” and “Trails”.
• All 50, count them 50, bike share stations will be on Version 6!
• Along with a new “How-to-Bikeshare” section designed by our BFFs over at Pittsburgh Bike Share.
• New ENLARGED, zoomed in, super high-definition, section of downtown that shows biking options in the Golden Triangle in even more detail.
• Opportunity to order flat (unfolded) maps. Since 2007 it has been a common sight to walk into a friend’s house or office and see two Pittsburgh Bike Maps hung side by side. They make great wall art! We’re making it easier to display them with biker pride. Keep an eye on our online store.
• We’re upping distribution numbers for Version 6. Previously we’ve distributed ~25,000 maps/year. We’re shooting to get out ~33,000 maps/year of Version 6. Be on the lookout for fancy new distro stands at your local library, bike shop, or Visit Pittsburgh kiosk.
• Finally, we couldn’t have made it this far without some new (and old) sponsors. Big thanks to EQT, DeepLocal, City of Pittsburgh, and Healthy Ride for bringing us to this point.

One of the most rewarding things about making the bike map for so many years is that we get to see the growth of bike lanes and bike infrastructure. It gives us so much pleasure to add to the dotted line, change the color from red to blue, and have to figure out the design challenge of representing protected bike lanes.

THANK YOU. This is all change that would not have been possible without you – our supporters members and volunteers. But we’re not done yet. Be ready for a mini-fundraising push in April where we’ll need to raise the final bit of $$$ to get Version 6 of the Pittsburgh Bike Map out the door and into your hands. We’re excited to see where it goes, and glad to have you all with us.

**Grab your free copy of our NEW map at any of our five commuter cafés this year on Bike to Work Day – Friday, May 20th.**

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