Councilmembers and the City want your feedback on how to improve Shady Ave for pedestrians and bicyclists

Shady Avenue is a roughly 2.6 mile City-owned road that connects through the neighborhoods of East Liberty, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, and Greenfield. It passes through two major business districts as well as schools, places of worship, senior centers, and residential areas. While it connects so many to so much, it also faces high traffic volumes, speeding vehicles, varying lane width, and unsafe intersections that makes the street treacherous and unwelcoming for pedestrians and bicyclists.

In light of these factors, Councilmembers Erika Strassburger and Corey O’Connor in conjunction with the City’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) are hosting two public meetings to discuss traffic calming measure in anticipation of a Road Safety Audit that will take place in October. The audit will evaluate Shady Ave from Fifth Ave to Tilbury Ave. They want to hear from the residents about the kinds of pedestrian and bicycle improvements they would like to see along Shady Ave and the corridor.

Shady Ave needs to prioritize pedestrian and bicyclist’s safety

This past year included the death of two pedestrians on Shady Ave as well as a crash between a pedestrian and driver that left the pedestrian in critical condition. Shady Ave needs to have pedestrian and bicyclist safety taken into consideration.

Shady Ave needs to have traffic calming and safety measures like:

• Put Bike Markings on the Street: Sharrow markings help bicyclists feel welcome and indicate to drivers that bikers may be present.
• Put in Bike Lanes: Giving everyone space helps to keep conflict zones down. Climbing lanes especially help slower traffic uphill.
• Pedestrian friendly entrances to parks, schools, and places of worship
• No right turn on red at intersections with high conflict zones
• Increase visibility: Update the crosswalk to have the piano key style thermoplastic paint which makes for higher visibility of crosswalks;
• Give people on foot a head start: Add a pedestrian advance signal and give us plenty of time to cross;
• Give pedestrians refuge: On longer crossings, add a pedestrian refuge island;
• Lower speed limits: Rates of survival when hit by a vehicle go down substantially at lower rates of speed (This article has an interactive map that shows your chance of being killed at the various speeds of driving and at a 3 different ages). 20 (mph) is plenty in our neighborhoods.
• Have better lighting at intersections : Choose LED lights that better illuminate the streets especially at intersections;
• Calm traffic: Neck downs at intersections are a great addition to make pedestrians more visible while giving them a shorter crossing distance. In residential areas add speed humps to slow down drivers.

Share your input at the public meetings:

Public Meeting #1

Subject: Fifth to Forbes Ave
Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Location: Children’s Institute, 1405 Shady Ave.
Time: 6:00-8:00pm:

Public Meeting #2

Subject: Forbes Ave to Tilbury Ave
Date: Thursday, October 10, 2019
Location: Taylor Allderdice High School, 2409 Shady Ave
Time: 6:00-8:00pm

Meeting Details

These meetings are in anticipation of a Road Safety Audit (RSA) by the SPC of Shady Avenue from Penn Avenue to Tilbury Ave. The focus is on traffic calming, as speeding is rampant on the entire stretch of Shady. The Councilmembers and DOMI want to hear from residents about what kinds of pedestrian and bike improvements they would like to see along the corridor in addition to traffic calming measures.

DOMI will present on different traffic calming treatments, and then there will be breakouts to discuss different problem areas along Shady. 

Questions? Email: shadyavetraffic@pittsburghpa.gov

Become a Bike/Ped Advocate

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Want to get more involved with making Pittsburgh better for biking and walking? Become a bike/ped advocate. There are over 20 neighborhood bike/ped committees across the City and surrounding municipalities.

You can find a complete list of them here. You can always start your own committee too! Email anna@bikepgh.org for more information.