BikePGH Message Board Archive

Stadium Authority Bike Parking

Pittsburgh's Stadium Authority and WTW architects have publicized a project plan for a new parking garage on the north shore between the stadiums. It is referred to as the "Lot 1 Parking Facility". The zoning application has a hand written date of 3/10/16 but the portion of the PDF detailing the parking garage is dated April 5th. http://apps.pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/schedule70/presentation-70-770.pdf It's nice to see that bikes are included in the master plan, even if it seems rather amateurish. Page 7 marks existing "bike paths" on a map but the map is comically inaccurate. Page 31 shows a bike path with differing pavement from the adjacent pedestrian sidewalk. Page 50 and 51 are maps showing Steelers parking ingress and egress. Of note is a dotted line labeled as "Bicycle barricades" down the middle of the street, separating vehicles and pedestrians. Not really sure what that is about. Page 53 has a map and details about bike parking! * Minimum of 100 Bikes * Bike Maintenance Station * Adjacent to Manager’s Office * Security Cameras * Dedicated Entrance Overall I have mixed feelings. A non-insignificant amount of money is needed for 100 bike parking spaces. From the pictures and map it looks like that means 50 inverted "U" pipes anchored to the ground with a bike parked on each side. It's in a dedicated, covered space with as much security as can be expected. That part is pretty good. Where I feel it falls short is that the route to and from the bike parking appears to have been given little thought. It isn't really detailed on any of the maps. The details are what make a bike lane/route great or merely lip service. In my opinion the plan should show bike lanes with as much detail as was used for sidewalk and roads. If bike lanes were well understood, lack of detail would be fine. But we are obviously still learning how to do them well. Lack of planning will result in poorly built infrastructure that is a detriment to pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. The river front trail system is a wonderful part of Pittsburgh for bikers. It is likely how most will reach the stadiums by bike. And yet the stadium authority's master plan doesn't plan for this at all. There is some excellent bike parking, an excellent trail system passing by the area, and unknown magic that is supposed to happen in between. Thoughts?

dfiler

2016-04-01 10:43:30

I think the "bike paths" on page 7 are intended to show the routes cyclists take, not what we'd call actual bike paths. It's just like their "pedestrian paths" on that map mean something other than "where are the sidewalks?". Apart from that terminology issue, that map seems reasonably accurate to me. It looks like "bicycle barricade" means simply the style of barricade with close-spaced vertical bars, and really has nothing to do with bikes (except that they can serve as a crummy bike rack in a pinch). I think the intended bike route is the green arrows in the lower left corner of page 53, connecting the dedicated door leading to bike parking to the sidewalk on West General Robinson Street. It seems to be presented at the same level of detail as the paths for cars: which streets, not how to paint them. I agree that they need to get the details right, but I'm not sure if the zoning board gets involved in details of that nature.

steven

2016-04-02 03:32:50

You may want to send your concerns or comments to the city bike/ped coordinator Kristin Saunders Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator kristin.saunders@pittsburghpa.gov For instance it would be nice to have the bike entrance where it makes sense for us and not just the cars.

marko82

2016-04-02 07:44:08

Thanks for the reply Steven. Ah... that's what a bicycle barricade is. Perhaps I can better explain what I see as a lack of an appropriate amount of detail. The roads, parking lots and sidewalks are all fairly well depicted. Their boundaries and relation to everything else are pretty much obvious. Part of the reason for this is that the lane and parking space markings are actually indicated on the map. This is in contrast to how the bike route is indicated. One slide has a rough overlay of a green dashed line. That line doesn't extend far enough to convey the entire route. Better depiction in this PDF would make it possible for the zoning board and public to contemplate the proposed infrastructure. With it being relatively vague, I don't expect much discussion or thought being devoted to it.

dfiler

2016-04-05 10:58:55