Is there any good (i.e. covered and secure) bicycle parking by the courthouse downtown?
All of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority garages have free covered racks. Some are near the guard stations. In any case, definitely use a U lock, not a cable lock and secure your wheels if they are the quick-release type. Here's a map of the downtown garages: http://apps.pittsburghpa.gov/ppa/downtown_facility_rate_chart.pdf
Thanks. That's very helpful, and good to know.
Sounds like if I'm going to the court house on grant street then mellon square might be my best bet...
There are some 3 rivers racks right outside the county building @ Forbes + Grant. Not covered, but if you bring your Ulock and a plastic grocery bag to cover your seat in case of rain, that's really close! Bonus: look for the Toynbee Tile in the E crosswalk where Ross crosses Forbes!
Awesome, thanks. I'll check the weather before i head down. Looking forward to jury duty 
I tie up at City-County Bldg. Not a lot of spaces, and not the best racks, but at least it's out of the weather.
Best bet is probably the grant street portico of the city county bldg., as per Stu. If you use Mellon Sq. Lot, lock well. Bike parking is in a dark area off Smithfield. Ok for a few hours, but i try to avoid it for anything longer.
I will third the recommendation of the City-County Building Portico. I've parked there for over a year and never had a problem. It is covered.
Lately, the City-County Building portico racks have been quite full and as of a few weeks ago, the construction project was blocking access to the Three Rivers Racks on Forbes near Grant. I 311'd the issue and hope they might replace the mini-sized clothes-hanger and the toast rack with two full-size hanger racks.
FWIW, I've been using the old toaster rack, and hauling my bike to the wall side.
A) Lots more spaces.
I'm going to be there all day, so I'm freeing up the street-facing slots for short-term riders.
C) More difficult to steal a bike from that side (as if anyone would want my old thing).
How's the 1st avenue garage? I'm thinking it might be easier to just park there and walk...
@Pseudacris - I tried the first avenue lot today and 2 parking authority folks and the attendant at the pay station said there was no bike parking in the lot. I'd tend to believe you over them, but that still leaves me wondering where the racks in that lot might be.
In any case, it worked out fine - found a spot in the portico on the hanger rack .thanks for all of the advice.
@hshoch,
Arg, bummer: hope that did not cause you to be late. I actually got the info off the Bike Pittsburgh web site (see Resources>Bike Parking link above). I'll have to ask one of the staff members if they know what's up.
Glad you found a spot.
No worries - I had built extra time into my schedule.
It's good to get a read on the accuracy of that information. It may be that the staff folks I spoke to we're uninformed, of course...
Thanks..
