CMU releases some details of ten-year plan (Pittsburgh, Oakland: fit in, hotels)

[BrianTH]

Some interesting stuff:

CMU airs 10-year master plan

The major theme is they are reorienting to recognize Forbes as running through their campus, as opposed to forming its northern border (something that has already happened, but would be embraced more specifically). I think most of what they are talking about would be good for the City as a whole, and I suspect we are looking at more jobs, residents, and so on. I also like taking some lanes from Forbes to create bike lanes. That said, it always makes me nervous to have a single entity with that much of a say over so much area. Anyway, here is a map:

[bradjl2009]

I saw they wanted to make two of the four lanes on Forbes bike lanes. I don't think the city will let CMU make two bike lanes on Forbes and will probably want 3 lanes for cars on such a busy street.

[gameguy56]

I think CMU would be a 'good shepherd' of the land around it's campus. They want to attract the best and brightest young scientists and academics so they have a vested interest in a lively and functional neighborhood.

[Impala26]

As CMU is my alma mater, I'm a bit biased, but I have to say I like how this plan turned out. It doesn't seem extreme or over-reaching; it's a mostly practical way of reorganizing the land that CMU already owns. I've said that the vast Morewood parking lot has been a waste of space for years.

The two most controversial (and I don't think to much of a degree) points on the plan are the hotel adjacent to the museum on Forbes and the plan to shrink Forbes down to two lanes. New hotels always seem to generate a lot of chatter, but I definitely approve of the latter. Forbes is predominantly over-built on that stretch, and since it basically funnels into one lane in Oakland and Squirrel Hill anyway, I don't see much qualms about it. It would be a big victory for the biking community, but I would also want to make sure it would fit in with the larger bike infrastructure that Bike Pittsburgh and city planning have in mind.

Pretty solid if you ask me.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I saw they wanted to make two of the four lanes on Forbes bike lanes. I don't think the city will let CMU make two bike lanes on Forbes and will probably want 3 lanes for cars on such a busy street.

It is ultimately a state issue (this is a state road), but recently the City and the County have both been pretty supportive of efforts like these (in fact, see the traffic-calming bump-outs further up Forbes toward Squirrel Hill, and similar modifications in downtown Oakland). In a case like this, you don't actually get a big vehicle throughput advantage from having extra lanes, and the bike lanes would be a nice feature.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by gameguy56

I think CMU would be a 'good shepherd' of the land around it's campus. They want to attract the best and brightest young scientists and academics so they have a vested interest in a lively and functional neighborhood.

Universities have a mixed history on these issues. The possible negative aspects could include creating a cloistered, self-contained, inward-looking, outward-exclusionary zone, and also anti-preservationist tendencies (because they put a high premium on specifically locating new developments within their designated campus outline).

On the plus side, they can bring money and political connections to the table, and as you note they do tend to take a long-term view on development issues. It is just that their interests may not always be perfectly aligned with what a city as a whole would want to achieve in its core areas.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Impala26

The two most controversial (and I don't think to much of a degree) points on the plan are the hotel adjacent to the museum on Forbes and the plan to shrink Forbes down to two lanes.

Those two things I like, although I do think it is a little creepy they ran off another hotel development so they could do their own instead.

As I just suggested, I'm more concerned with whether it starts to feel like this area is setting itself apart from the rest of the City, a feel the CMU campus south of Forbes already has. It doesn't have to be that way--in fact much of Pitt's campus in downtown Oakland provides an example of how it doesn't have to be that way. But I do think this is an issue worth keeping an eye on.

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I saw they wanted to make two of the four lanes on Forbes bike lanes. I don't think the city will let CMU make two bike lanes on Forbes and will probably want 3 lanes for cars on such a busy street.

I think the bike lane portion of this plan may be more of a non-issue than it appears at first blush. That section of Forbes has only 1 travel lane in each direction for much of the area around the campus.

Headed from downtown going east, the block between Craig Street and the bridge right before has meters on both sides of the street, with cars often parked requiring a merge into 1 lane after the Craig street light. It's 2 lanes through campus but then back to 1 lane up the hill to Squirrel Hill after Margaret Morrison.

It seems to me that CMU just wants it all to remain one lane (maybe with a turning lane) throughout. No doubt it would provide for a safer automobile-pedestrian interaction as well, always a pain when I was a student. More to this point,, the proposed pedestrian bridge would be a great idea.

[mjost7]

You'd want to carefully consider bus stops on any proposed two or three lane section. I know there are some pull-offs but not sure if they are at every stop. With an average daily traffic volume of 14,000, a two lane section with signals might be at capacity along Forbes Avenue. That said I am all for more bike lanes when they are designed and located correctly.

[WestLibertyAve]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I saw they wanted to make two of the four lanes on Forbes bike lanes. I don't think the city will let CMU make two bike lanes on Forbes and will probably want 3 lanes for cars on such a busy street.

This shouldn't be an issue. Forbes loses a lot of its traffic at Bigelow, Bellefield, Craig, and Morewood, and is down to one lane in each direction by the time you reach the end of CMU's campus anyways.

Hopefully they leave some room for left turn lanes and bus pull-offs though.