BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

street cleaning started April 1st, so hopefully soon!!!

We had a city truck that squirted water, so that the aforementioned gravel shot up onto the sidewalk in front of our house. They phasing out the street sweepers?

Even the sides of the streets in Squirrel Hill today were littered with plenty of gravel and plant debris. Indeed, let's hope the sweepers make their rounds.

As a side note, if I see a big (but not unmanageable) branch down on the road or sidewalk I will actually get off my bike to move it aside. I moved a sizable one off of the sidewalk along Fifth Avenue by the busway/train underpass a few weeks back.

How kind of you. The gravel is just so frightening. I hate biking over it and naturally it gathers at the sides of the streets. I bike a little to the left of it when traffic isn't closely following, still a little freaky though when traffic speeds by and I'm forced to bike over it.

@saltm513: I'm sure you've also noticed that plenty of the worst cracks and potholes are also at the edges of roads too. Throw gravel on top of that and riding on some roads can be an utter mess. If it's really bad and the road is slower speed, I just force my riding line a little further away from the curb.

Yah, I couldn't help but notice the complimenting cracks-- not entirely winter's result, (and not to whine) but the brutality of this particular season certainly hasn't served to make it any easier out there. What comes to mind in particular for me is a row of cracks between Penn and Penn Circle (northbound) that fits right in a cycles riding line... it gets to me everyday in my efforts to dodge these spots, as well as all the folks cutting through the streets of this stretch of road. It's like a game.

Guessing most of those cracks are right on top of old rail tracks from trolleys that were never ripped out before resurfacing. On many streets, it's pretty apparant what lies underneath, particularly when the holes are deep enough to see the old steel.

Funny enough, many cities that choose to "modernize" streetcars opt to use the old buried track where possible. If the powers that be in Pittsburgh ever see that streetcars would have some useful applications in areas like the Strip and South Side I'm sure this is precisely the same steps they would take as well.

Hmm that's cool. Here's hoping Pittsburgh jumps on that street car bandwagon. Although things have seemingly improved some, if there is one thing I would change about our city, it would be to make enhancements not just for biking, but all our public trans options.

I'd like more public transportation options, but streetcar tracks in the streets are a problem for bikers.

Hit those things at an angle and they will place you immediately on the street and taco your front wheel. Imagine trying to take the lane to make a left hand turn with two sets of tracks to cross - in traffic.

Hmm. Very true and a good point that I hadn't thought of... Let's go for subways and hope that Pittsburgh won't collapse entirely- I believe there's already a lot of undermining in our hills.

Not undermined -- pre-drilled tunnels!

There was a bike fatality in Boston recently which has been attributed to streetcar tracks. Hitting them at an angle is a problem. Getting your tire caught in the groove, however...

We had a city truck that squirted water, so that the aforementioned gravel shot up onto the sidewalk in front of our house. They phasing out the street sweepers?

No, there's just some mysterious pattern. Some weeks (most) they use the sweepers, others the water truck.

Is it that they have a sweeper truck and a water truck, and it's a guess as to which will show up in any one spot? And does one do a better job than the other?

and it's a guessas to which will show up

Well, it's the City of Pittsburgh (in my case at least) and they have many sweepers and at least some water trucks. I have not been able to figure out when the water truck will appear instead of the sweeper. So it's a guess for me. In my opinion the water truck does not do as good a job of removing leaves, bits of sycamore bark, and other road detritus from in front of my house and on other streets as the sweeper truck does. However, there may be some other purpose for the water truck that is not known to me and perhaps it is doing that job well. It probably does do a better job of flushing fine particluates toward the storm drains.

Either one makes enough swooshing noise that my cat goes and hides under the dining room table.