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Route 51 biking

How safe is it to ride down 51 to cut over to Point park.?We are riding eastbound from Marquis,Ohio.  I am open to alternative routes to reach the park. Mike
mikeforthman
2018-07-10 16:24:33
If you are talking about the section between McKees Rocks, PA and the City of Pittsburgh, on the weekends it's not terrible for experienced road riders, but during the week I would be very cautious on that stretch. PennDOT's changes a few years ago were not well-received by the cycling community, and the sidewalk is your safest bet if traffic is heavy. A few miles after McKees Rocks, Route 51 will go up a ramp, turning south, but (if you are on the road) you'll want to bear to the right, go under the ramp, then carefully get yourself onto the sidewalk on the "river" side of the road. That sidewalk will go past the incline, across whatever bridge that is, and directly into Point State Park. If you are on the sidewalk, on the "river side," I believe it goes under the ramp and avoids the dangerous merge point where the other side of the ramp and Carson Street come together. Good luck!
jmccrea
2018-07-10 17:26:39
Ft. Pitt bridge. The sidewalk on that bridge is crazy narrow.
edronline
2018-07-10 20:19:24
The McKees Rocks Bridge sidewalk is much preferable to dealing with 51 close to the city. At the PA65 end of the bridge, go straight, up the brick street, to a 5-point corner. Use the slight right (Termon Ave) for a couple of blocks, turn right on Fleming, left on Antrim, right on Woods Run, left on Eckert, then you’re a short hop to the river trail. If you’re OK with hauling your bike up a staircase, just after crossing 65 there’s a set of steps that takes you up to Davis Ave, thus avoiding the 5-pt corner and a lot of traffic.
stuinmccandless
2018-07-11 06:33:25
This just arrived from the Allegheny County news feed:   The Fleming Park Bridge (Neville Rd.) in Neville Twp. and Stowe Twp. will close at 6 a.m. Monday, Aug. 13. The closure, expected to last until the end of June 2019, is required for sidewalk replacement, steel repairs, expansion dam replacement, & other work. Read more: bit.ly/2K8aIPT This is the bridge that connects the McKees Rocks end of Neville Island to SR 51. The notice does not make mention of and pedestrian accommodation, so I suspect the bridge will just be closed to all users.  That makes Neville Island pretty inaccessible from that side of the river.
swalfoort
2018-07-30 12:34:34
I rode that way yesterday and can confirm that there's some signage up to that effect as well, although TBH I wasn't paying any real attention to it at the time.
ornoth
2018-07-30 13:50:43
That bridge closure pretty much assures that I won't bike to work for the duration of that bridge project. The alternatives, which will likely see an increase in traffic due to the bridge closure, are not pleasant to begin with: it may be legal to ride on the shoulder of the I-79 bridge, but I don't even like driving on it. Not to mention the process of getting to that bridge coming from points east. The other option (riding to Coraopolis and then into Neville Island) is too long-winded for a morning commute. I might bus my bike in and get a nice, longer ride back home. Ah, the wonders of working on an island with limited access...  
chrishent
2018-07-31 14:55:40
When the bridge connecting Bellevue and Brighton Heights was closed in 2010, at least some pedestrian and bike access was maintained at all times. It switched sides, sometimes you had to get off and push, sometimes you were walking on boards, sometimes you had to walk around stacks of materials, BUT IT WAS OPEN. This is PennDOT not giving a rat's ass about anything that doesn't have a motor.
stuinmccandless
2018-07-31 18:24:05
@chrishent, Take the 14 bus to Kilbuck St. in Glenfield. bike across the river on the shoulder of the I-79 bridge. It is allowed according to signs at the northbound entrance ramps in Neville Island. From Rt. 65 North off ramp:
  • R. Kilbuck St.
  • L. Deer Run Rd.
  • L. I-279 South Ramp (Stray on shoulder across the bridge)
  • Take next exit to Neville Island.
This way, you won't have to deal with a bus that only comes once per hour.
zzwergel
2018-07-31 18:51:20
@stu, it's still unknown if there will be some kind of path open on the bridge so that pedestrians and cyclists can use. I doubt there will be, but one can hope. @zzwergel, thanks, but as I said before I'm well aware of what my options are for getting to the island. I know that biking on the shoulder of the I-79 bridge to/from the north is legal, but I have no interest in doing that. I'll deal with this in one way or another.
chrishent
2018-07-31 21:48:23
We've asked around.  The 21 will continue to serve the Island, just not the southern end of it.  A shuttle will be provided to that end of the island.  I don't know the details, but expect to learn more soon/  
swalfoort
2018-08-03 13:35:08
Update: the 21 will not serve the island. It drops you off in Coraopolis where you transfer to a shuttle. This shuttle, by the way, is too small (16 passengers). A bunch of people got stranded this morning because they couldn't board it, so presumably they waited another half hour to get on. A contractor rep told us they are going to meet with PAT on Wednesday to evaluate the system further and make corrections. The best thing that PAT can do is make a route adjustment when the next round service changes comes in (mid-September). They can't do that now, I think, because it will throw the bus horribly out of schedule, and maintaining the same service frequency will require 1-2 additional buses during rush hour. Said buses would have to reallocated from other routes... Personally, it looks like I'll have to bring my bike with me and ride to my office from Coraopolis. It took me a little over an hour to get to work today (vs the regular 38-40 mins.) but that was with minimal wait for the shuttle. Without a posted schedule to adhere to, it can't be guaranteed that it will always be like that, or that I'll get a spot on the shuttle.
chrishent
2018-08-13 14:29:20
i dont know this area at all, but I just looked it in on google maps. It looks like there are 3 bridges that cross the back channel -- the scary 79 bridge and then 2 smaller ones. Are both of these smaller ones closed? or is one closed and the other really sketchy for cyclists?
edronline
2018-08-13 16:35:21
Speaking solely for myself, riding the length of Neville Island is a good way to get away from suicidal Route 51 on my way between town and the Sewickley hills. My other alternative is Lincoln to Emsworth, then climb hilly Roosevelt, to a very unpleasant Mt. Nebo (also currently under construction). I find this way works better inbound, so Neville and the Sewickley Bridge have been my outbound leg. It's sad because I enjoy Sewickley, and hadn't been out there for a year while Emsworth's Church Ave bridge was closed. Now closing Neville off for a year makes it difficult to access again. I'm sure there are other inland routes, but they're less direct, hillier, and seem more trafficky, tho I'd love to hear folks' suggestions.
ornoth
2018-08-13 18:18:55
@eric, both bridges at the end of the island are perfectly suitable for cyclists. The trick is getting to that northern bridge in one piece. PA51 between Stowe and Coraopolis is undulating and windy, and is not particularly suitable for rush hour cycling (or any other time for that matter). Alternate roads just add time and hills and, at the end of the day, I just want to get to work in a reasonable amount of time. The return is a different story.
chrishent
2018-08-13 20:32:10
Thanks for the update(s) Chrishent.  I spoke with people who I believe to be "in the know" and they suggest the shuttle arrangement is still a work in progress.  In concept, the shuttles were to run at much more regular intervals than the every 30 minutes you mention.  The shuttles are provided by the construction contractor, and not PAT, so changes to the SHUTTLES can happen at any time.  Those don't have to wait for a mid-September PAT pick or anything.  I think you can expect to see improvement in the shuttle arrangement very quickly.  Or that is what I have been led to believe!  
swalfoort
2018-08-14 10:26:42
Thanks for the insider knowledge, @swalfoort :-) Aside, to the guy I saw riding inbound on 51 from Coraopolis today after 6 pm: kudos to you, my dude.
chrishent
2018-08-14 21:20:44
If you bike Route 51 or Nichol Ave in the Presston area of Stowe frequently (between McKees Rocks and Neville Island), you might want to beware the frack sand air pollution problem there. Frack sand gives off silica dust that can cause lung disease. The following article says silica dust blows around the area, and dust accumulates on the roads. There have been feeble efforts to reduce the silica dust. "But even with all of those efforts, the sand still falls from or leaks out of railcars and from trucks headed to shale gas well fracking operations. It’s particularly visible on and along Route 51, also known as Island Avenue, north from the McKees Rocks Bridge for a mile to the Neville Island Bridge. That’s the route the tri-axle sand trucks take from MRIE to I-79 and then to individual well fracking sites, north and south." I'd guess that cyclists frequenting Stowe or Neville Island might want to use an N95 breathing mask. news story: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2018/08/06/industrial-sand-fracking-stowe-shale-gas-drilling-allegheny-county-health-department/stories/201808030140
paulheckbert
2018-08-14 23:05:34
@paulheckbert, no need for a breathing mask. That's only if you are exposed to the sand for prolonged periods of time. I work in an industry where the use of dust masks is highly recommended (or required in certain areas), and even then the cases of sillicosis/lung disease are rare. I've seen the piled up sand while riding on 51, and I'm definitely more worried about crashing because of it than how it can get in my lungs. I called the Stowe DPW to see if they could clean it up (some of it is right in front of their building), and they haven't done anything about it. I brought my bike on the bus today and rode from Coraopolis to my office. This was the fastest commute that I've had all week, by at least 10 minutes. Looks like the way to go until the weather turns nasty (did someone say studded tires?)
chrishent
2018-08-15 08:54:41
oi. I feel bad you guys have to go through all of this just to commute to work by bike. It seemed like the route was bad enough with route 51 being anti-bike, and now worse for the next year.
edronline
2018-08-15 08:58:12