Fern Hollow Bridge Completion Brings Additional Safety

Besides restoring a critical connection to the rest of the city for neighborhoods and municipalities east of Frick Park, the rebuilding of the now-open Fern Hollow Bridge included some exciting new infrastructure to make biking and walking in the area safer and more enjoyable.

The most exciting upgrade is a new fully-protected two-way bike lane that is separated from traffic by concrete jersey barriers on the outbound side of Forbes Avenue. This new bikeway replaces the previous lanes that were narrow and unprotected. The bookends of this bikeway are Beechwood Blvd and S. Braddock Ave. There is a mixed-use walking and biking pathway on the bridge itself that extends to S Braddock Avenue. This fall, the City will also install a new signalized pedestrian crossing to a sidewalk on the inbound side of Forbes Avenue on the west end of the bridge.

Additional changes to traffic patterns along with new bike lanes, traffic calming, signage and signaling at the intersection of Forbes Ave, Dallas Ave, Beechwood Blvd, and Beacon St are intended to provide a better connection to the Bike(+) network and make the area safer for all road users. DOMI and local advocacy groups will be monitoring the effectiveness of these changes as traffic patterns continue to change so that future improvements can be made as-needed to further improve safety in the area.

Made Possible By Advocacy & City of Pittsburgh Collaboration

We want to thank Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, Councilwoman Barb Warwick, and the team at DOMI for seeing the opportunity to make these upgrades a silver lining of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse, and for persevering through this challenging project. They deserve kudos for collaborating closely with our team at BikePGH and especially community members from the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition (SHUC), Briarcliffe and Regent Square. A project like this would typically take years of study and deliberation, but everyone came together to make it happen out of necessity in only a year and a half.

What’s Next

We didn’t get everything we advocated for and we have a concern over maintenance of the Forbes Ave bikeway, but this is an enormous improvement and a huge win for biking and walking and access to Frick Park. The City has committed to monitoring the new bike lane and ensuring it is quickly cleared of any debris that may impede cyclists. Please use 311 to inform them of any issues.

We would also like to see additional space for other modes of transportation on that part of Forbes Ave that will provide a more park-like experience instead of four lanes dedicated to fast moving cars, which we believe to be entirely possible. DOMI has also promised a traffic study this year to ascertain the feasibility of a future Forbes road diet that would further slow down cars and provide even more space for other modes of transportation. We will share more details on that as it unfolds!

For now, get outside for a ride to Frick Park, get some ice cream across the bridge, and enjoy safer streets!