BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I could summarize several earlier threads on topics relevant to the title. A) North-south paths, compared and contrasted, enumerating trouble points. B) Handy tips, short cuts, detours around trouble points. C) Active projects to improve matters, who’s doing them, and current status. I also have lots of video footage, at least south of my house. I rarely bike much north of Perrymont Road.

Did I handle McKnight Rd. in a good manner? Three things really bothered me.

1. After turning onto McKnight Rd., there was a slow moving car behind me not changing lanes to pass me. I always am afraid if the driver will gun it and run me over.
2. I had to wait for over two minutes for the traffic light on the turning loop to Nelson Run Rd. to turn green. There were numerous cars behind me and I lined my bike up with the detector loop in the pavement.
3. There are wide shoulders in both directions south of Babcock Blvd., If a street sweeper can be run on them every two months to keep the litter and tree debris to a minimum. This is in Ross Township, so @Stu can say something about this at a committee meeting

I did not have trouble getting across McKnight Rd. after alighting from a bus at Braunlich Dr to get to the Best Buy parking lot. I noticed two small bike racks on the sidewalk in front of the store near the southern end of the building after I left Best Buy.

Two months? Ha! We’ve been asking for that for two years! Here’s the problem. Some of that is PennDOT, some of that is Allegheny County. You want it done any faster, do as Dani Kramer is doing with the 40th Street Bridge. Show up with the tools and sweep it yourself. I’ll ask. We asked last winter if it could be done after snow season. Here it is October. Dammned aggravating, it is.

Thanksf a car is riding slowly behind you and is scared to pass, I'd pull over and let them pass if it is safe to do so. Sometimes a slow, scared driver is worse than an aggressive driver. Plus if car are piling up behind sometimes there's a road ragers 3-4 cars behind who is pissed and feels that you, the biker, is responsible, and will do something scary toward you while passing or at the next light.

@Eric, I had to eventually move left one lane to stay on McKnight Rd., so moving right and letting anyone through would have guaranteed that I couldn't get through. Why can't they just pass? There are two more lanes to the left just for faster moving traffic. Would mandatory re-education on rules of the road for traffic violations help with this nerve-racking and dangerous nonsense? @Stu, Should I place plastic barrels along the shoulders on McKnight Rd. so cyclists and pedestrians can place any litter they see into them? like was done on the 40th St. Bridge sidewalk? Maybe even motorists can pull over and dump their garbage into a barrel to dispose of it instead of just chucking it out of the window.

Reminder, the trash barrels on 40SB are maintained by one person. Not PennDOT. Not Allegheny County. Not City of Pittsburgh. Not Millvale Boro. No. By Dani Kramer, who got disgusted enough that none of the above were doing it that she took it upon herself to buy the barrels, tools to haul them, and various supplies to get the job done and keep it that way. Throw her a few dollars to help. https://www.gofundme.com/pay-the-bridge-troll If litter pickup is your thing, consider joining forces with an existing group to conduct semi-annual roadside trash pickup. My Walk//Bike Ross group handles Babcock Blvd between Cemetery Lane and Three Degree Rd, and after five or six passes, I guarantee you will find very little other than recent discards. Look for the little sign saying “next mile maintained by” [name of some group] then look them up.

Are there any groups that might be interested in working on the Highland Park Bridge over the Winter? That accumulates lots of litter and could use snow removal after snow storms.