BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I feel a bit like the Good Witch of the North telling Dorothy that she always had the ability to go back to Kansas. The answer lies in understanding PA vehicle law, and knowing how to ride in mixed traffic. The short version is "take the lane, it's yours," but it requires a bit of explanation. As a legally recognized vehicle, you may use the entire lane. On a two-lane road, like Freeport Rd through downtown Blawnox, posted 25, it's just like riding on Butler St through Lawrenceville. You ride merrily along in the center of the right lane, and any cars that come up behind you get to follow you. They have no superprivilege that lets them push you out of the way. What they do have is explicit permission to cross the yellow center line to pass you if it is otherwise safe to. If it isn't, they get in line behind you and go your speed, just as if you were a backhoe (which typically travels the speed of a bicycle). On a four-lane road, you use the right lane, the whole lane, without explanation or apology. Anyone desiring to go faster gets in the left lane and passes you. That's what four-lane roads are for. So, in short, you have a bike lane now. It's called a traffic lane. If you feel like you don't want to deal with cars behind you, go ahead and pull over, but you are not obligated to. Does that help?

Clarification: On a two-lane road/street, you use THE lane, not the right lane. Stay well away from parked cars. There is noplace to be but fully occupying the lane, and that's just fine. Nor is it necessary to duck into a space between parked cars to let cars past. You don't have to let cars pass. They can pass you, even on a double yellow.

This is not quite right. On a two-lane road, if the lane is wide enough to allow passing within the lane you are to ride to the right to allow this. Most lanes aren't, especially in the city, but some are.

I do not dispute that. The wording states "in the right-hand lane then available for traffic, or as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway". The first half of the "or" means the right lane of a 4-lane road, the second half is 2-lane roads. So, what does "practicable" mean? * I have to stay far enough from parked cars to avoid a door opening suddenly, so I am going to be at least four feet. * The majority of potholes and pitted pavement is along the right edge, so I need to avoid them. * Most carrion, downed branches, broken glass, and loose gravel is also along the right edge, so I need to avoid that, too. * I ride predictably, a simple straight line, no darting in and out of spaces. So, Jon, you're right, on West View Park Drive with its 18-foot lanes, or the parts of Perrysville up by the city line where the lanes are over 16 feet wide, sure, I'll stay to the right and allow in-lane passes. If it's a bit narrower a 2-lane, though, it is not possible for me to stay four feet off parked cars, occupy four horizontal feet of space, have four feet to my left for cars to pass, and still have a passing car stay in that lane.

Well, the "take the lane" perspective is one that I am very comfortable with. This isn't really about that for me. I appreciate your perspective, though. Since Freeport Road is a single lane in each direction in Blawnox and then again at the Hulton Bridge, the superhighway section has always perplexed me. It serves no other practical purpose than providing a few miles of no-limit Autobahn for people to zoom through. I've had high-speed close calls along there, as have a couple of other guys I work with who ride that stretch. I am lit up like a construction zone when I commute, and I have a pretty high degree of comfort in car-laden traffic. Nevertheless, getting buzzed by cars and trucks going way beyond freeway speeds for no reason at all seems stupid to me. Since there is an excess of space there, I'd just rather have a designated lane. There's times when I am happy to take a lane and put up with crap from idiots who seem to want to kill me. Here, the speeds are super high and there's no place for me to go because of guard rail captivity, so there are just factors that are unsafe and out of my control. In this case, I will just figure out who to ask about a bike lane...as remote of a chance as that probably is.

I think the group most likely to advocate for this is possibly artez (Allegheny River Town Enterprize Zone) http://www.artez.org/ They are working with communities to facilitate building bike routes and extending park space and trails along the allegheny riverfront.

Well-timed -- ARTEZ's Bike committee ("Allegheny River Trails Action Committee")'s next meeting is Monday, February 23, at 5:30 pm, at the Aspinwall Municipal Building (217 Commercial Ave, 15215). http://tinyurl.com/ARTAC-sign-up to get on the mailing list, or PM me an email address and I'll forward you the last one I got, which has the agenda for monday's meeting.

I will be at the meeting -- thanks!

@Ross Any updates?

(Partial) victory!

A four-lane section of Freeport Road, from [the Blawnox-O'Hara border to the new Hulton Bridge], will be reduced to three lanes with shoulders up to eight feet wide on either side. “We are not designating any bike lanes with signage,” said Todd Kravits, PennDOT traffic engineer. That designation would come only with the approval of O'Hara and Harmar councils, since the property lies within those municipalities. Neither council is willing to take on the liability of the bike lanes without PennDOT installing a hard barrier along the shoulders. “Bike lanes become the responsibility of the municipality,” O'Hara Manager Julie Jakubec said. “Council's concern along Freeport road is that it's heavily traveled and sometimes at a high speed. Council would consider an official bike lane if there's some sort of guide rail or barrier in place.”

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourfoxchapel/yourfoxchapelmore/9307158-74/road-freeport-bike Though the lack of designated bike area is a concern, I'm actually heartened that the township councils are refusing to allow one to be posted without it being barriered. Hopefully it doesn't take more deaths before it's realized this is necessary.

First, I'm very grateful that PennDot and the associated towns are at least thinking of accommodating us non-car users. If a wide shoulder is available I will use it whether it has a bike symbol on it or not. But I hope that they are smart enough to put the rumble strips right at the lane edge and not too far into the shoulder, and that they plan on sweeping the shoulder from time to time. Oh yeah, speed enforcement would be nice too.

I bet there are tons of people north of Blawnox who were not willing to commute by bike specifically because of this stretch.

I have been out of sync with my riding lately, but I did ride this route daily. That stretch can be scary, especially in the wee hours of the dark morning. I'm looking forward to the increased shoulder room. I just hope that they are pretty clear that it is a shoulder and people do not assume that there are still more lanes there. As a side note, if you are coming from Harmarville on Freeport road, there are 2? signs that state bicycles are allowed to use the whole lane, or something similar to that. progress is progress I suppose!

Wow - I come back from a trip to China and my riding buddy tells me I was quoted in the Trib! I'm impressed that the reporter got online here and dug those posts up. See, you never know who's looking at what we're saying here. I think it's awesome that they're gonna do something with Freeport Road. Too bad they're not gonna make actual bike lanes, but I'll be happy with any improvement over what that was. Seriously, riding in the lane with nothing but the guard rail and 3 inches of shoulder with 55-75 mph traffic at 6:00 in the morning was truly sucking. It was amazing how many people were too lazy just to shift lanes and cut me some slack. I don't commute over the winter months...too old and it's too cold for me. I'm looking forward to next year though!

it looks like they have started to paint new lines at the beginning of blawnox. Right now incoming into blawnox from Harmar, the lane markings go from right to left: No marking on far right, a wide space, then 2 white lines that resemble a narrow bike lane, then double yellow lines that seperate a normal traffic lane, then a solid white line which provides a wider shoulder outbound. Im not sure they are totally done with that section (between powers run road and the gas station) but it does appear to provide more of a safer space to ride.