BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I've ridden it a couple of times. Can get a little crazy with the speed some drivers carry through the turns and I'm not super comfortable on it. I only use it when time is of the essence.

I have ridden it before. The road surface kinda sucks. Where there is that speed bump going toward the Garfield commons housing project, cars go around into opposing traffic just to avoid going over it, so be careful there. Usually SUVs do that. Anyway I didn't feel any more unsafe than riding on negley where it is a clusterf and the road is shitty or on highland between Penn and home depot.

@mr marvelous: have you tried cutting through the cemetery?

It's hilly and weird, but beautiful. I think there are some people on this board who go through it regularly, so maybe they can comment on it as a through-way between Stanton Heights & Bloomfield...

I wish I felt more comfortable on mossfiled because i live on it, practically... but i feel like drivers really really arent aware that a bike could be on the road at all there. they take it at pretty fast speeds and then if they are heading towards my neighborhood, bomb down chislett. I have personally nearly been hit at black and chislett as a pedestrian walking to work multiple times. Once I smacked the hood of a car and they drove around the block and appologised. Id make sure you wear a ton of flourescent green if you are going to travel it more often on your bike...

note, there is also a sidewalk. a really crappy one, but it's behind a guardrail.

Maybe if we start to ride that street more often, people will be more aware and accustomed to seeing cyclists. I usually don't feel like climbing black street from Chislett first thing though, so that is why I don't take it. Also, i think at some point my husband told me that it is NOT one of the recommended streets to use by bike pgh on some map maybe.

I would avoid this street on a bike. It's not called the Garfield Expressway for nothing.

It's fun to drive the speed limit on it though. People get PISSED.

i used to ride it all the time (6 or 8 times a week) and now a good deal less (a couple times a month) but i've always been fond of it as a route, I don't find it any more dangerous than penn, but i think it just depends on how comfortable you are with people passing you...

I rode it last night for the first time - it didn't occur to me that it was too dangerous. Seemed okay to me.

I hate driving on it, never biked it. In my head, that geographical space doesn't exist (it goes zoo, morningside, lawrenceville, all of which are bounded by magical cliff then Penn on the south (but also the cemetary) - grossly incorrect, but I'm having trouble revising my internal map to read otherwise). If it is useful, it could use some traffic calming and road diet type modifications.

Yes, since this is also a car shortcut, people tend to feel entitled to speed on it (I don't discount myself for a lead foot on here). In my opinion it's safer during the daylight...I'd be afraid of people not seeing me around the corners at night.

I'm just gonna go the long way around, it just doesn't seem safe for a slow rider like me

I personally feel way more comfortable on it than on Penn. Just stick close to the right around the curbs and cars should have plenty of passing room. Much better the than parking cars and ankle-deep potholes that you'd be facing via other routes...

Since they opened Allegheny Cemetery, I've never needed to use Mossfield. I think I was on it once. By city standards it's unpleasant, but not out of the ordinary for the suburbs.

The cemetery will get you from next to Matilda & Penn (right next to Mossfield) down to Butler & 46th on a nice easy grade. Just follow the white line through the cemetery, and go slow, partly out of respect, partly because the pavement's pretty crappy in a lot of places.

Unfortunately the cemetery isn't open all of the time.

And unfortunately it only connects lawrenceville to garfield. It would be great if there was a path through it to Stanton heights or morningside.

Staton ave connects lawrenceville to staton heights and morningside.

"It would be great if there was a path through it to Stanton heights or morningside."

Mossfield > Black, L Chislett, L Stanton, R Morningside Ave.

Ta-da!

(Edit - Mossfield, L Schenley Manor Drive... never done it, but it shows on the map as a possible path into Stanton Heights)

its a lot of hills to go schenely manor drive, it is very rare that that's the best way to go, it is really nice at night though, nice views, quiet neighborhood.

ok people you are missing the point. i know all the road routes to morningside. i was saying it would be nice if there was a PATH not a road, not several roads, but a PATH that connected to stanton heights and/or morningside. like if there was another entrance at the west end of the cemetery that could be accessed by bike just past the senior home and jehova's witness hall on mossfield/black.

a nice low stress alternative to all the usual road routes home.

Ooohhh. I did miss that. I get it now, and I agree.

I've noticed a couple of bikes that are using Mossfield now, wondering if anyone on the board is using it more and if it's a little more bike friendly or is it still the Garfield expressway. It would be a nice shortcut home from Garfield.

Still sucks and the hills on it are steeper than you realize when driving on it.

Sigh..... I figured

You can avoid Mossfield by taking the parallel Schenley-Mathilda route.

Yes, there's climbing, but it's a slow residential street and except for this one blind corner it's quite relaxed.

@ Ahlir thats a really good idea. It is a nice climb but it's a relaxed enough street that it shouldn't be a problem.