Smallman St redesign: Opportunity or opportunity lost?
Since the City installed the Penn Ave Bike Lane in 2014, they have been calling this bike lane “just an on-ramp” to a larger network that will expand eastward into the Strip District, Lawrenceville, and possibly beyond. The bike lane ends at 16th St, and this expansion is touted as necessary in order for the bike lane to see it’s true value and potential.
Over the past four years, the City has yet to create a plan or a proposal to connect the bike lanes into the neighborhoods – something that could have a dramatic effect on reducing congestion and parking demand by getting more people riding into downtown, not to mention the safety benefits.
However, since the bike lane went in, new pressures have compounded the problem of safely riding through and to the Strip District. Namely, a large number of autonomous vehicles, the increasing popularity of the Strip District as a destination for out-of-towners, a huge influx of residential units (and parking lots), combined with the constant closure of the Strip District Trail have created a downright hostile environment for people on bikes.
A New Smallman St
The City, PWSA, and McCaffery Development are working on a plan to completely redesign Smallman St from 16th St to 21st St as part of a fix to the water infrastructure running under Smallman, in tandem with the proposed Produce Terminal redevelopment project. This segment is a notoriously wide stretch of road, with ambiguous lane markings, parking, and a lack of sidewalks that create a chaotic and speedy traffic pattern with bikes and pedestrians all sharing the roadway.
Currently, at the end of the Penn Ave Bike Lane, the City routes people on bikes onto Smallman St to continue eastward. Additionally, Smallman St is the detour for the ever-shuttered Strip District Trail. In fact, Smallman St has been an official bike route for decades, once housing the faded green “bike route” signage.
Where do we go from here?
On Tuesday, March 27 there is a meeting to discuss a proposed redesign of Smallman St from 16th to 21st streets as well as go over PWSA’s plans for repairing the water and sewer infrastructure.
This is an incredible opportunity to extend the bike lane eastward, however it is unclear if or how the proposal will accommodate people on bikes, or enhance the Penn Ave bike lane with an eastward connection.
Additionally, if bicycles aren’t considered in the redesign, and there are no other proposals or plans for a safe eastward connection, this project could effectively cut out any future extension, or make one difficult or expensive in the future.
What to do?
Attend a public meeting and ask about how people on bikes will safely pedal eastward from the Penn Ave Bike Lane.
When: Tuesday, March 27, 6 – 7.30 pm
Where: Society for Contemporary Craft, 2100 Smallman St
RSVP: Facebook event
If you can’t attend, you can submit a comment about the project here.
Please stay tuned to our website as this project develops and for future actions alerts.
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1 Comment
Just a quick update on this.
Went to the meeting. There wasn’t much info on any redesign beyond PWSA’s construction schedule. HOWEVER, they did say, and Emily Gaspich confirmed, that the City is now working to get a new Smallman St design to the 30% mark by May, where they will then have their own public meeting and process to finalize the design. There were no details on what that will be or what they are looking for in a design. But looking at the timeline, PWSA won’t be done with their work until December, and they are leaving Smallman with temporary pavement, which means the City won’t be putting down any new striping or new asphalt until Spring of 2019.
Eric Boerer, BikePGH