BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

The Rankin bridge now has wide shoulders and a narrow sidewalk on one side.

How does it "feel" now? on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the safest. I seriously never ride this bridge.

the shoulders are ample on the rankin bridge, almost a full lane width but it has common issues with gravel and glass accumulation.

Maybe a 7 depending on the day and time. It's sort of like the Forbes Ave bike lane. The shoulder gets you out of the way.

Erok, not really a fact thing, but more of a trim the fat type thing:

Words like "fairly", "pretty", "really", "very", "especially", and "generally" could be eliminated in most of the descriptions and have the meaning stay the same.

The Smithfield Street Bridge description says "sidewalk on the southbound side is for mixed-use pedestrian/cyclists". I believe the northbound (upstream) side is so designated (though it might be both).

It might be better to use consistent bridge sidewalk terminology, not a mix of upstream, northbound, and inbound.

Also, the Highland Park Bridge description uses "out-bound", with an unneeded hyphen.

Good points. Thanks, this is exactly the help i was looking for. You're right it is the northbound side.

Maybe revised Rankin Bridge text, or at least a starting point (compiling what everyone else has already said):

The Rankin Bridge features a sidewalk on the Whitaker-to-Rankin side of the bridge. On both sides, the shoulders are wide and offer lots of space, although gravel and glass can accumulate.

I ride the west end bridge most every day (except for recently as I am currently injured and can't ride) and I just take the street. I come from Crafton usually close to 9 am, through the circle and just proceed forward onto the bridge roadway. I really haven't had any problems with traffic that were any differant than what one would expect on any other road with a high volume of fast moving (read law breaking) traffic. That being said, on a scary scale of 1-10 I'd rate it a 6 or 7, and I consider myself pretty fearless on 2 wheels. I don't usually ride home across the west end bridge from north to south because although it's faster, the climb from Western Ave. to the bridge deck slows me down too much to safely merge with the traffic merging from rt. 65 on the right. Sorry I know this doesn't exactly help you narrow your description of the bridge, just thought it might help you understand what an average commuter might experience trying to ford the mighty Ohio river at that particular spot.

Cool,

to stay consistent with how the rest are written, how's this for Rankin:

Medium speed traffic with wide shoulders that may accumulate debris. Sidewalk on the northbound side. Enter/exit bridge with caution.

thanks chefjohn, that is helpful

Rankin bridge description sounds good Erok.

Is this someone trying to walk across traffic in front of a huge truck on the mckees rocks bridge?

Link to google street view

That pedestrian certainly conforms to PennDOT's multimodal goals, yes?

it's definitely a complete street.

erok what can you do about keeping the 31st

street bridge from connecting to 28 forever?

On a more serious note, I talked to a couple 'island residents' at red fin blues not too long ago who all said they enjoyed the way the bridge is. They can get out much faster, are usually going downtown, or don't find 31st -> 40th -> 28 that bad compared to the annoyingly long light they had to wait for before.

What Steevo just said. Seriously.

I'm sure someone benefits from it being connected to 28, but who? Those lights screw up everything for everyone. Without them things are so much nicer.

I guess if you wanted to get from Rialto (when it's not closed for the winter) to the 31st St Bridge you're screwed. But how many people does that really affect?

I thought the final plan was to have 28 go under the bridge, and you'd have to exit to get onto 31st st. i could be wrong

The best/shortest I could come up with for the west end bridge:



The roadway is two lanes each direction, no shoulders and traffic moves at highway speeds. There are walkways on both the northbound and southbound sides of the bridge. From the North Side, both walkways can be accessed from a walkway on the northbound side of the bridge or from a set of stairs on the corner of North Point Dr and Belmont St. Access to the northbound walkway requires the use of stairs from either approach. From the West End, both walkways can be accessed from stairs on the sidewalk of the lower portion of W. Carson Street. Alternatively, both walkways can be accessed from the West End Circle, northbound with a crosswalk and sidewalk from S. Main St / Rt 51 and southbound with a crosswalk and sidewalk from Steuben St.

It's still a bit longer than 2-3 sentences, but there is a lot going on with that bridge.

I personally take the walkway as I don't have ferrous gonads like chefjon. The last time I took the road over that bridge was the scariest experience I have ever had on a bike. It was the day after the biggest snowstorm of this year and I decided to cross the WEB after slipping and falling on the ice near the smithfield st. bridge. The west end circle was fine, but the bridge was covered in rough, icy crud that made for a bumpy ride. As I was bouncing down the far end of the bridge at ~17mph when a car passed me on the left at ~50mph and cut hard in front of me. He began sliding out and narrowly missed slamming into the divider on the ramp towards downtown. I was too busy keeping myself from bouncing off the bike to sh*t myself. I avoided that bridge entirely for the rest of the winter.

How is this(?):

Fast moving traffic with no shoulder. Sidewalks on both sides. Sidewalk on northbound side requires use of stairs at each end. Access the sidewalk from the north on Western Ave or from stairs at North Point Dr/Belmont St. Access the sidewalk from the south from stairs on W. Carson St or from the West End Circle at either S. Main St / Rt 51 or Steuben St.

btw thanks cuse that was really helpful

I might add this line:

Fast moving traffic with no shoulder. West End Circle is very confusing and dangerous. Sidewalks on both sides. Sidewalk on northbound side requires use of stairs at each end. Access the sidewalk from the north on Western Ave or from stairs at North Point Dr/Belmont St. Access the sidewalk from the south from stairs on W. Carson St or from the West End Circle at either S. Main St / Rt 51 or Steuben St.

-very

fat is trimmed

Bloody West End Bridge...

Note that the "sidewalk" is very narrow and tight. I ride that bridge more often then I'd like. Rode the road once, which was an adversarial and contentious adventure in just getting on the damned bridge. I've hewed to the sidewalk since. Traveling west on the north sidewalk coming down the crest one picks up some speed, but at the end, a signal switching box juts out abruptly before the hidden sharp turn onto Carson's vague impersonation of a sidewalk, and it is always littered with debris. Still, it's the only way to get from here to there, provides nice views, and is spitting distance from Pgh Police's elite Accident Investigation Unit...

Erok, that last description looks great go with it.

@erok: Slightly OT, but is there any chance for a change in font or type size for readability on street names? Even removing the outline from the names of the recommended routes would help a lot.

That is the idea. that was probably our #1 complaint. I haven't seen the final product yet tho.

Found a few typos:

62nd SB: site/sight;

Smithfield: Furness/Furnace;

Bloomfield: Milvale/Millvale, + I bet that's Beethoven but didn't check it.

Hot Metal Bridge could you add something about taking the corners slowly on the side-access ramp-thing I am always anticipating collisons there.

YES PLEASE to the larger/bolder font on the street names, I love the map, if the names were easier to read it would be totally perfect. Title Case might help.

Does anyone know what the plan is for the goat path from Millvale to 40SB?

It really is Bethoven St. Always struck me as odd, but that's what the signs say.

I've heard the name comes from BETH[lehem Steel] OVEN. Polish Hill old timers pronounce it that way,too.

thanks for finding the typos. Bethoven is def correct tho, and pseudacris is right, it's actually pronounced Beth-Oven

We are looking into title case as well.

Also, I can't believe i typed "furness" instead of "furnace." Furness is the last name of a friend of mine, and he would have thought it was hilarious that i messed it up because his last name slipped into my head.