BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I doubt you will ever get a ticket for riding your bike on the sidewalk on West Carson Street.  Your first option is fine IMO.  The reason the road is red for that portion is likely because of the merging traffic from Steuben and Saw Mill Run.  I think you are able to hop on the sidewalk for that portion anyway.   The best route going into the city from Dormont is probably to go down West Liberty Ave, up Southern Ave and down Mcardle Rd, Sycamore St or William St.  During the morning rush West Liberty is moving very slowly once you pass Cape May.   The big issue is how you get home.  Probably take the T to Beechview or Dormont.

Thanks, Greg!  So you would prefer W Liberty over Greentree even if W Liberty if orange?  Just checking. The way home - the issue is elevation, I'm assuming? Even if my coordination doesn't improve, maybe I'll be able to take on the hills by next year!  

Going home, you can take the Monongahela Incline up Mt. Washington. After exiting the Incline, do the following.

• Cross Grandview Ave. onto Shiloh St.
• Turn R. onto Southern Ave.
• Turn L. onto Boggs Ave.
• Cross Saw Mill Run Blvd and turn L. to ramp.
• Turn R. onto W. Liberty Ave.

If you want to avoid the Incline, do the following:

• Heading east on Carson Sr. from Station Square, turn R. to Arlington Ave.
• Being careful of the trolley tracks, continue to climb Arlington Ave. Turn R. onto Warrington Ave.
• Trolley tracks follow Warrington Ave. at the bottom, refer to fourth bullet of above list.

West Liberty is all downhill after the intersection with Pioneer.  If you're fine with going fast you can easily be hitting 30mph going down the hill and won't really be in the way of motor traffic.   Pioneer Ave is also a good dowhill alternative to West Liberty.   The main thing I don't like about Greentree Rd is the fluctuating lanes and speed limits.   It's a wide 4 lane 35mph road through Scott Township, turns into a 2 lane road after McMonagle, drops to 25mph and expands to 3 lanes after Carnahan, back to 4 lanes at W Manilla, back to 3 lanes and 35mph after Mansfield and down to 2 again once you pass Parkway Center.   Elevation is issue no matter what route you choose.  Unfortunately the easiest hill to climb in terms of grade out of the bunch happens to be a heavily trafficked West Liberty.  Going 10mph uphill on a road with lines of cars zipping past you at 35+mph isn't fun for most people.   Like I said above, not an issue going downhill when you can come close to matching the cars speed.    

Thanks ZZ!  I will check out  both routes tomorrow and get back to you.   Greg – unfortunately, I am still too skittish to go 30 miles an hour. I have the habit of slamming on my brakes because of  fear of losing control at speeds that are embarrassingly slow.   The fear isn’t entirely unfounded!   I’ve had a couple of scrapes and bruises ? I would rather take longer and be away from cars,  if that makes any difference.

Incline is the same cost as the T.

@edronline, I know that, but it will not defeat the purpose of having a bike @BikeNewbie, See these videos of me biking on "Big roads" https://youtu.be/ZYBhyZKzCso?t=175 https://youtu.be/DTGqnFB6cP4?t=34 https://youtu.be/NCAnh3KJrnk?t=2374

The safest, flattest, and least legal connection is the Wabash Tunnel. Someday, somehow, we cyclists will be allowed to use that tunnel. We have an entire thread about the tunnel, here. Of course, to get to it, you have to ride Rt 51 from West Liberty to Woodruff St, which is perfectly legal but hardly safe or pleasant.

Unfortunately there is no secret way to safely get into town from Dormont.  There are plenty of very experienced riders that feel uncomfortable riding on Greentree and West Liberty due to traffic speeds and driver aggression.  I say this not to discourage you, but to make you aware that the danger is sometimes real and not a function of your newness to cycling. The PA law is that you can't ride on a sidewalk in a business district.  In reality, you will probably never get a ticket as long as your are riding slowly and treating pedestrians with respect.  I don't know what the condition/avalibility of the  sidewalks are on either of the your roads, but if they are usable I wouldn't hesitate to use them until you have more experience riding in traffic.  BikePgh offers confidence classes periodically which teaches you strategies for dealing with traffic.  I've never attended one, but you might want to check one out http://localhost/our-work/education/citycycling/ Good luck and welcome to the South side of town! (I live in Baldwin)

Greg H has the best advice in this thread, IMO. There's simply not a great way to get from the South Hills into the city.   I would not want to ride Greentree Rd, nor that portion of Carson St, nor go that far out of my way. Neither would I want to ride Warrington with its T tracks in the middle of the road. The T adds money but I think it's your best bet for now.  

You could do this, but it is quite hilly.  

• R. Curranhill Ave.
• R. Fairacres Ave.
• L. Alturia St.
• L. Fallowfield Ave.
• R. Crosby Ave.
• R. Belasco Ave.
• L. Broadway Ave. (Be careful of trolley tracks)
• L. Potomac Ave.
• R. Belrose Ave.
• L. Hillsdale Ave.
• R. Dell Ave.
• L. Grandin Ave.
• Dormont Junction is across from Grandin Ave. on Raleigh Ave.

Hi Everyone!  This is really awesome!  I just wanted to let you know that I definitely will follow up on all of these posts at the end of next week.  This coming week is looking a little crazy, and I really want to take the time to map these, check them out, and give them the attention they deserve!   Thank you again - and talk soon!

Hi Everyone!  I am sorry it has been so long, I have to say things have been unusually hectic!   I have great news, however: I found out that my job allows me to take public transportation for FREE!  This is a game changer (I think!)  I am thrilled!  It sounds like my commute (by car) would be anywhere between 20-60 minutes depending on traffic, but by bike/tram, around 40 minutes.  So more dependable, anyway!   So that leaves me with two questions:

1. Sanity check... Sound good to all of you?
2. How will I know if it is safe (weather conditions - ice?) to ride?  Think inexperienced biker :)
3. Google is telling me to get off of the 3 Rivers Heritage Trail to Second avenue, and from there to take Bates street.  Does that sound safe/achievable?  (Especially really early in the morning.  I tried Schenley Park a couple times until my friend said she saw a drug deal on that route).

Hmmm... look what I found!   http://www.epicrideweather.com

I would not take Bates. Stay on the trail to the end, then Swinburne, chute, Saline, trail, Boundary, Joncaire sidewalk, to get to Oakland. Alternatively, if you’re considering Bates, you may as well go straight out Forbes, fully occupying the right lane the whole way out. The trail, though longer, is much calmer, so that would be Plan A. As to your list, treat slippy days as the exception when you walk to the bus, but otherwise you merely need to dress for cold or rain, or both. Fenders with mudflaps to keep spray down will really help.

Thank you :)! I mapped the new route (the first one, probably safer for me) and it would be 44 mins.  So my commuting options are:

• A. Drive to Oakland from Dormont, which Google says would take 20 mins-1 hr.  That's a huge range.  I would also have to add 20 mins due to distance from parking, so 40 min - 1 hr 20 min.
• Take T (20 min + 10 walk), bike to Oakland (initial route 30 mins, revised route 44 mins). 1 hr 15 min.

That said, I would be much more comfortable and happy (I think) biking to work than being stuck in traffic for an hour!

Yeah, T to First Avenue or 41 to Ft Pitt Blvd at Smithfield, either one’s a short hop to the trail, and off you go.

I agree with Stu's advice: T to 1st Ave station, then bike the following route to get you into Oakland: https://goo.gl/maps/WSj9K3u6Pgz One of the last streets on that route (Joncaire) is cobblestone, but you can bike on the sidewalk, which makes it much more pleasant.

If you go multi-modal, you could possibly ride the T downtown and catch a healthy ride to oakland. Something to consider if you don't want to take your bike on the T.