Unless Carol has explicitly given permission for her email address, phone number, etc., to be posted in a public forum, they should probably be redacted.
2017-01-13 17:55:37
19
How to make FEDEX in Moon Twp bike-accessible?
Maybe we could accumulate ideas here for a few days and then someone could email them to Fedex. -Paul H.
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Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:55 pm (PST) . Posted by: “Paul McKeown” paultmckeown
FedEx in Moon needs advice on how to make their workplace more accessible by
bike. Does anyone local want to field this inquiry?
Paul M
From: Carol Elliott [mailto:carol.elliott@fedex.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2017 1:03 PM
Subject: Bicycle-Pedestrian Transportation – FedEx Ground
To: Montour Trail Council
Kristen Saunders, Pittsburgh Bike/Pedestrian Coordinator
Roy Gothie, PennDOT Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator
I am a member of the Green Workplace Challenge committee for FedEx Ground
located in Moon Township. Our committee wishes to explore options for
creating viable bicycle commuting to the FedEx Ground headquarters building.
Some challenges and opportunities include:
– FedEx Ground campus is on top of a very steep hill. There is no flat
access.
– Hershinger Road, a less traveled access road to the campus, is rutted,
fairly steep, and has no shoulders.
– The pedestrian crossing of Montour Run Road at the foot of Hershinger Road
does not have a working crosswalk light. Crosswalk striping is faded.
– There is an existing gravel path from the Montour Run Road/Hershinger Road
intersection that runs up the hill to the Scott Station office campus.
– FedEx Ground owns undeveloped land between Hershinger Road and the campus
to the west. It may be feasible to build a connector from Hershinger Road
across this land, which could be used for both bicycle commuting and
pedestrian recreation.
We are eager to have advice on how to get started, and how we can get
technical assistance on the feasibility of this project. Please let us know
how your organization can assist.
Thank you.
Carol Elliott
Database Advisor
FedEx Services
1000 FedEx Drive
Coraopolis, PA 15108
1.412.262.6684 TEL
1.412.859.5330 FAX
fedex.com/us
2017-01-13 16:50:14
The FedEx Drive is steep, and long. Streetview shows plenty of space on the side.
Here's the idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zipZ5kwhFfs
Yes, it might look like overkill but consider approaching this from a corporate perspective: By installing a lift FedEx both helps its employees and, if managed correctly, gets tons of free positive publicity. First lift in America! Fedex a leader in transportation solutions! Vision beyond the self-driving car!
Other companies get interested. Suddenly there are easy ways to get to the South Hills...
2017-01-13 18:07:31
I had a whole long thread or three from seven years ago when I made that exact trip by bike. I'll paste the link when I find it.
TL;DR version: Hookstown Grade Road.
Major edit #1: I searched through old message board threads and found the main one I was looking for.
http://localhost/message-board/topic/mccandless-to-fedex-in-robinson/
I worked there from Dec 2009 to Nov 2010. Most of that time, I used some combination of two Port Auhority buses and a shuttle van operated by the Airport Corridor Transportation Association (ACTA). In the morning, it worked well, doorknob to desk in about an hour. The trip back was horrible. 150-minute trips were routine, 180s were common, and more than a couple in the four-hour range. I might wait 65 minutes to get off the FedEx property, waiting for the ACTA van, even if called. Then I might wait 30 for the 28X. The 28X had a nailbiter connection to the once-an-hour 12A. Plus a 15-minute walk on Perrymont. Remember the Feb 5-6, 2010, snowstorm? Yeah, that winter. Anyway, by two weeks into that job, I was looking for a good Plan B, since the van wasn't reliable. So, winter be damned, I biked the 17 miles from McCandless to Moon, and back, when possible. Much of the blow-by-blow was documented on Twitter.
2017-01-13 19:30:01
What is pushing on your foot to get you up the hill on that lift?
2017-01-13 20:07:56
Is every link going to add that background? To me, that's a bug, not a feature. I was just about to post a half dozen more links to old but relevant message board threads. That's going to be a pain. I was hoping to add a line of explanation for each, but I fear if I do, it will get lost in the huge image.
Let's try one. I added a few numbers to this thread, so as to compare my trip to others with longish trips.
http://localhost/message-board/topic/bike-commute-times/
2017-01-13 20:25:20
I've never biked up or down these roads, but looking at it with Google Streetview, to connect with the Montour Trail, the options currently appear to be:
Fedex Drive, 12% peak grade, shortest, heaviest traffic?
Hookstown Grade Rd, 9% peak grade, longer, medium traffic? no traffic light at bottom
Hershinger Rd, 5% peak grade, longest, very low traffic?, rough asphalt
To bike-commute to Fedex bldg as things are: If I were biking up from the Montour Trail, I'd try Hershinger first because of the low traffic and easy grade (all the way up, then R on Hookstown Grade Rd and R on Fedex Dr). To bike down, I'd try Hookstown first -- probably less traffic than Fedex, I would "take the lane" on the descent, but I'd have to be very careful crossing Montour Run Rd at Hookstown, since there is no light. If MRR is too dangerous to cross at rush hour, then perhaps Fedex Dr down is better. But don't send cyclists down that hill unless they have good brakes.
Unless you want to spend a lot of money to repave Hershinger, I suspect that recommending one route for uphill cyclists and a different route for downhill cyclists might be best.
A working crosswalk light at Scott Rd would be nice, but as long as there's a traffic light, that's good enough for an experienced road cyclist.
If Fedex is willing to spend some money to make things better, a path sloping up from some point on Hershinger, as you suggest, to the Fedex building would be nice.
If you are feeling extra-generous, build a bike/ped bridge over Montour Run Rd at Hookstown Grade Rd, work with the Hollow Oak Land Trust to build their planned Trout Run Greenway trail, which is proposed to end right near there. That trail would be good nearby recreation for Fedex employees. See map, http://hollowoak.org/programs.html#montourwoods:
click map to see uncropped version
https://flic.kr/p/RcR5Vv
2017-01-13 23:18:44
Getting across Beaver Grade Rd at Hookstown Grade Rd was never difficult or dangerous, though I might have had to wait for traffic to clear. Brief footpath to the Montour Trail.
The whole time I was there, I had this recurring thought that the building should not be used as an employment center. Everyone had a long commute. My boss traveled from Poland, Ohio. A few cubes away, commuter from Greensburg. I knew of Natrona Heights, Murrysville, Rostraver. Must be 30 coming from my part of town, I figured. No hope of forming so much as a carpool because intraoffice communication was so difficult. Biking in, I tried memorizing every car that passed me on my first couple miles, then circling the company lot to look for neighbors. What I did do was get a ride downtown with a cube neighbor who lived in Squirrel Hill, where I could get a bus the rest of the way. He left the company in June, but I had an easier time biking by then.
But yeah, that job was where I really learned how to bike commute.
2017-01-14 05:52:54
Thanks for placing this in an appropriate forum.
2017-01-14 14:06:53
I don't suppose the Green Workplace Coordinator would receive well the suggestion that they locate their facility someplace that less closely resembled the ancient lost city of Machu Picchu.
2017-01-16 13:13:23
That would disrupt their gravity-feed delivery system.
2017-01-16 13:29:20
Stu - what the heck goes on at this facility? Looking at it from Google maps, I don't see any trucks or loading docks, so not a package processing place. Just a huge building and tons of parking. That site plan is so insanely formal!
2017-01-16 17:21:01
I would say Hookstown Grade is out. I drive that road occasionally. It is not lightly traveled as people use it to the airport ice rink and Scally's golf, it's narrow and I don't even like encountering another car on that road. Hershinger road, I've never driven it because, truthfully, it looks like some kind of undeveloped power line road. Plus, you'd still have to cut a path to get TO Fedex. I don't think the bang for the buck is there. On streetview, it looks like there is enough room on the east side of Fedex drive to pave a path at least 6' wide or so, from the light all the way to the site. That intersection is kind of a node on Montour Trail anyway. Plus a path there would also tie in Calgon Carbon, the Westpoint building, and Homewood Suites. Sure, it's steep, this is western PA. That would be my suggestion.
2017-01-16 17:35:48
There seems to be an existing dirt road of some kind most of the way from Hershinger Road to Fedex. Paving that might be pretty easy.
Separately, that "existing gravel path" seems pretty steep at the bottom in Streetview, but might be workable too.
2017-01-16 18:18:00
I suppose I should try this again sometime, now that I have a decent bike. I cranked up FedEx drive on a double chainring, always wishing I had a triple. I always came down it with I'll-stop-eventually rim brakes, wishing I had disks. Maybe that's why I tolerated H.G. Rd. so well.
2017-01-16 23:02:36
I would say Hookstown Grade is out. I drive that road occasionally. I don’t even like encountering another car on that road.100% agree. I biked it both ways. Downhill is OK. Uphill -- it's nightmare. Twisty, narrow, no shoulders and people flying it.
Hershinger road, I’ve never driven it because, truthfully, it looks like some kind of undeveloped power line road. Plus, you’d still have to cut a path to get TO Fedex.This one I bike pretty often (uphill) with Trek ride on Sundays as a warm up part of the ride. Not a problem at all. As a matter of fact, going downhill is more problematic -- you have to watch all cracks and holes. And it's right turn at the top. And about 2/3 of the mile to FEDEX. So as a way to go up for an average cyclist this pass is better IMHO.
On streetview, it looks like there is enough room on the east side of Fedex drive to pave a path at least 6? wide or so, from the light all the way to the site.Bike it both ways. It's doable. I know someone who rides it pretty often three times in a raw during lunch hour as an excersize. :) Wide lanes. And yes, there is enough space on east side. But this is the steepest one.
– There is an existing gravel path from the Montour Run Road/Hershinger Road intersection that runs up the hill to the Scott Station office campus.I would say ig this path could be paved and extended all the way (on west side) to the basketball/volleyball FEDEX courts -- this wold be the best solution.
2017-01-17 12:58:49
FedEx drive on a double chainring, always wishing I had a triple.Stu, it's absolutely doable with double. I have 50/34 (compact) and 11-28. And I probably weight almost twice as much as you. :) When I first did it I was 255. And I am far away to be a fast climber.
I always came down it with I’ll-stop-eventually rim brakes, wishing I had disks.I don't have problem to stop going downhill Fedex Dr. with my rim brakes even from 45 mph.
2017-01-17 13:04:07
Of all these options, I like the Hershinger road one. It seems to be a reasonable grade. Traffic is probably much lower than most other options, and more comfortable for the non-hardcore rider. If only they could connect it to Fedex via a paved path with a decent grade that would be ideal. It wouldn't even need to be expensive asphalt, I would be happy with tar and chip like the north shore trail (others will disagree vehemently about the Tar/Chip road).
2017-01-17 14:38:31
Any other pass (other than part of the road) will require periodic maintenance (salting, snow cleaning, leaf cleaning, etc). But in terms of pavement survivability it will exceed the road ones.
2017-01-18 11:05:25