Hi all,
I posted back in November about moving to Pittsburgh. I'm here, and ended up with a place in north side (Mexican War Streets area). My job is in Foster Plaza in the Greentree/Crafton area. I still haven't biked to work, but I'm planning on it soon. I've decided to avoid the hills on the way in initially, and get the bus from S. Main on the west end. I'm planning biking the entire way on the trip home, my problem is getting from the office to the west end. It looks like my options are basically Greentree, Noblestown, or Kearns. Greentree is standing out to me as a slightly better option, it's fairly short and only has one blind corner, it does seem a bit narrow. Kearns looks like a nice traffic free option when the weather is dry. Noblestown seems nice and wide for the large portion of it, but some of the turns make me a little nervous.
Do you guys have any thoughts on any of these roads. Or maybe know of some I'm missing?
Thanks again.
The Bike Pittsburgh map would seem to want to route you via Mansfield and then Noblestown. There is a section of Noblestown that is less desireable than the rest from a riding standpoint, but that can be avoided via Morange/Hawthorne/Crafton (and back to Noblestown).
That's not a bad commute, aside from maybe the West End Circle/Bridge. I'd probably ride Kearns uphill and Greentree downhill. Noblestown is fine to ride but pretty far out of the way and adds climbing.
Greentree has been fine the few times I’ve been on it – although I can’t recall if it was rush hour traffic or not. Just be aware that there are a few low manhole covers on the decent & there is a stop sign at the bottom. Low 40’s downhill is easy to do too :-0
Through the West End, deal with the West End Circle in whatever manner, but end up on the downstream sidewalk of the West End Bridge. This will put you on Western Ave not too far from the War Streets section of town. The WEB's upstream sidewalk is OK, too, but involves one staircase.
As to the WECircle itself, use the little trail that parallels the street for that last 0.1 mile, then walk your bike across stopped traffic to get to the bridge.
