BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I don't see anything on the Trib website, either. I've asked my own little corner of the internet if anyone I know have heard anything & will pass on anything I get...

I'll ask around; I ride that road regularly when I'm in town. :(

I've since learned that it wasn't a car-on-bike collision; it was a one-bike collision. Pothole or gravel or something. Serious enough that the rider lost consciousness and an ambulance was called, but motor vehicles weren't involved. Sorry for the false alarm.

It's still something to be concerned about, though, right?

OK, so let's focus the attention on the condition of the road. Let's get some info from the cyclist and do a little homework. Bad roads that put you flat out on the street to get run over are just as bad, and just as preventable, as motorist-on-cyclist collisions. * What happened? * What does it look like? (Someone go out there right now with a camera, preferably video.) * When was the last time any sort of work got done on this road? * Whose road is it? State? County? Boro? Two boros? If it's just loose gravel, is there someplace that's coming from, such that 10 minutes and a shovel to redirect storm runoff might help? I ask because twice yesterday, I nearly wiped out on a single patch of gravel on my own street. (Then took broom, shovel, and a bucket out to the spot and fixed it.)

If someone knows where this happened I can look into it.

Brinton is the easiest way to get from Forest Hills / Ardmore into regent square. Two lane road, curves, hills, no real shoulders, not much in the way of street lights. I take it gently on my motorbike as well as on my bike -- it's zoned at 25 but I see people doing 30-40 on it while I'm driving.

I'm pretty sure I know who this is. According to Facebook/email news I've gotten, it was a pothole that caused the crash. She was in the hospital for several days with a concussion and other injuries, and apparently the doctors treating her credited her helmet with saving her life. She was released from the hospital as of yesterday (4/8) but will be in recovery for a while still.

ieverhart - glad to hear your friend is ok. This is spooky. We're looking to move "in towards the city" and initially Brinton Rd was on the options list as "close to Regent Square". We loved a couple houses on it, but had to admit it's just a suburban thru-way people use to get around traffic. We decided we'd be about as happy living on it as we would be living on Frankstown or Saltzburg, even through it's only like 1.5 miles from Frick. Due to not finding anything else suitable, I'd been wondering if maybe we'd judged it too harshly. Sad to find out we were right.

ejwme - long time no see. Not knowing anything about brinton rd, what about this thread convinces you it's bad? Cars do 35-40 on literally every 25mph road in existence, and there are also plenty of potholes to go around...

salty wrote:ejwme – long time no see. Not knowing anything about brinton rd, what about this thread convinces you it’s bad? Cars do 35-40 on literally every 25mph road in existence, and there are also plenty of potholes to go around…

Brinton is one of those through roads where people might honk and get aggravated if you only go 10 mph over the speed limit. Kinda like what Greenfield Ave would be if they took out all the stop signs. Plenty of 50- 60 mph traffic on Brinton. A few cars faster.

I've been talking to some Forest Hills borough council members about this road. I'd like to get a stop sign installed on Brinton where it intersects with Columbia and Wellington (it's Wellington on the Forest Hills side and Columbia on the Braddock Hills side). The complexity, however, comes from the fact that the road isn't strictly IN either Forest Hills or Braddock Hills. It's a county road. Borough cops can and do make stops on it, but the boroughs themselves can't necessarily change the signage. It has to go through the county. I am hopeful that this summer I'll have time to start pushing that process with the county.

ejwme - not knowing precisely what you're looking for, there really are some nice neighborhoods right off of Brinton Road in both the Braddock Hills direction and the Forest Hills direction.

jamesk, have you come to one of the "Share The Road East" meetings? Brinton Rd. is one of the roads on our map for improvements but like you said it's not easy.

Ryan, I'm on the mailing list. I haven't been to any meetings, but I'd like to get more involved (I know a few other members and am currently a candidate for FH borough council, where I hope to do what I can on this topic).

My brother lives on Edgewood Road, leaving me a choice between US30 or Brinton into the city. I personally haven't had any problems on Brinton besides a poorly thought out intersection where Brinton meets Maple (which isn't even that safe in an automobile). I've rarely encountered heavy traffic or pot-holes... it is pothole season at the moment (to be fair). I've seen cops patrol the road and I'd say that most motorists stay close to the posted speed. 25mph is really slow in a car, so even when I'm driving I frequently find myself 10mph over the limit before recognizing this fact and slowing down. That said, I wouldn't touch the part of Brinton that runs parallel to the parkway; but, the section that is a continuation of Maple isn't bad at all. A wider shoulder would be nice on the uphill portion, but I'd be comfortable commuting on this stretch of road into RegentXRegent.

I'll pass it along to my contacts at the County. I don't guarantee that they'll be able to do anything, but you never know....

I also live on Edgewood and use Brinton for my rides into Oakland. A neighbor of mine over on Cascade teaches at CMU and rides every day it's over "f-ing cold" outside. If there are other Forest Hill people who want to get together down at Forest Hills coffee and hash out what we can do, let's meet up? I currently work in Oakland but my weekends and late evenings are usually open. Brinton is a road I avoid even in my Terrain Fucker 4x4 due to the number of old-and-slow or young-and-fast cars using it to avoid parkway traffic. On my bike I usually avoid the shoulder but there are a few bits where I feel safer in that 6" right of the white line than I do in the traffic lane. I'm happy to go to Forest Hill borough meetings if it will help, I've lived here 6 years and need to get involved in local politics. I'm also on the Share-the-road list but haven't been to a meeting (yet).

jet, pm me your email address and I will add you to the share the road east mailing list. I think sharrows, improved shoulders, and "bikes may use full lane" signs would go a long way on Brinton.

jamesk wrote:ejwme – not knowing precisely what you’re looking for, there really are some nice neighborhoods right off of Brinton Road in both the Braddock Hills direction and the Forest Hills direction.

Those neighborhoods (esp Wellington and Columbia) are exactly where we were looking, and we did see two incredibly adorable houses right ON Brinton (with super easy access to the Ardmore entrance/exit for 376). But I want a sidewalk. I want to walk my dogs out my front door and not rely on a little white line to keep cars from hitting us (at any speed). What's the point in living so close to the park if I still have to drive there for peace of mind? If it were just me biking, I wouldn't write it off so quickly. But it's me biking, an me running, and me and the dogs walking and running. We want a street that's calm. Not a cul-de-sac, but not a "short cut". Brinton is a short cut for too many people - just like Verona Road through Rosedale (where we currently live). I've actually had people lean on the horn and scream obscenities at me (with a child in their passenger seat) for driving 35 mph (the posted limit) on Verona Road. It's the main reason we're looking for a house with sidewalks in front of it, is my experiences running, biking, and driving along Verona Road. I recognize jagoffs with cars permeate life and I can't escape them. But I don't have to go an live right in their path, or in a neighborhood that requires me to use a jagoff infested path to go anywhere. I miss the city!

>Those neighborhoods (esp Wellington and Columbia) are exactly >where we were looking, and we did see two incredibly adorable >houses right ON Brinton (with super easy access to the Ardmore Go a little further in, towards Ardmore, and you'll find Edgewood Acres. We are short on sidewalks but have no thru-traffic, so plenty of my neighbors take their babies/kids/dogs for walks and runs around the neighborhood and the older residents go on daily constitutionals in the street.

Jet (who is apparently my neighbor!) is right... but you can't get to Frick Park from Edgewood Acres without going down Brinton or Ardmore. Brinton sucks less than Ardmore, but it still kinda sucks.

Hi all, I'm the one whose accident was the original topic of this thread, and who lost out when my bike and a pothole had an argument. I was on the shoulder going down hill towards Maple. Opposite Cogos there is a patch where the road had been dug up, filled but not compacted, and then some truck or something had come along and created a really deep wheel rut through it. I was cycling just after dawn (with lights), and I guess I didn't see how badly torn up it was. Last time I had run past there, probably a week prior, it wasn't badly torn up. Anyway, it was bad, and I guess I went flying, but I don't remember much more. Today I met the Good Samaritan who stopped her car, having rounded the corner to see me on the side of the road, and called the police etc. What a kind soul. But even she couldn't tell me exactly what happened as she didn't witness it. She DID, however, phone around people she knew in the neighborhood until she found someone who knew me and knew how to get in touch with my family. She deserves a medal. All I can say is, love your helmets, wear them low over your forehead, and avoid the shoulder (which I usually do; not sure why I didn't then). Oh, and I second that Edgewood Acres is awesome. We love our community. And I thought of one more thing - support Carnegie Library if you can, because their free, downloadable books on tape saved me from insanity when I was on the sofa for 10 days without even being able to read! Still loving them because I can't read much yet. In fact, I've used up my screen time now! Ride safely, everyone!

Very glad to hear you're recovering!

Thanks for posting - those crappy patches are a real danger. Best wishes to you for getting well soon.

@gfwbr, Glad to hear that you are mostly ok. Hopefully you'll be back on the bike soon.

Thanks for letting us know that you are ok. Sorry the recovery period is lingering. I second what you said about CLPGH. I didn's know you could download books on tape, but their regular books on tape/CD have seen me through many a long airport/trainstation wait.

Oh I also wanted to add - I have a friend who has been recovering from a concussion, and she very strongly recommends the concussion clinic in town. If you haven't already been there, you might find it helpful to coordinate your treatment.

Thanks for stopping by with an update. Here's to a full recovery.

This is a PennDOT road so it's not as easy as Pittsburgh's 311. As soon as I can get out there to grab long lat I will call it in. Thanks for checking in and I am glad you are ok gfwbr.

Yes, very glad to hear that you're doing well. After a fall in the basement (no helmet :-), I spent two weeks at Mercy and another couple of months in post-fall therapy. They did an amazing job of getting me back on my feet again.