Planners seek to reduce traffic congestion in Oakland, Downtown (Duquesne: neighborhood, restaurant)

[Bobjefferson]

Originally Posted by brother_rebus

Where in the life is mention of a bike lane up Fobes/5th corridor?
awful if it doesnt happen. the jail trail is not acceptable nor accessible.

They have been tossing around ideas for the rebuild of Forbes and Fifth for several years now. The real question seems to be the proper configuration of bus/car/bike lanes through the busy corridor. I am confident that when these corridors are finally updated in the next several years, a bike lane will be a part of the plan, likely on Forbes.

Changing the boulevard to a through-route makes sense, people already treat it as a highway and the turns into/out of Uptown are way too tight to be safe. I assume emergency access will remain for Magee.

Honestly the idea of an inbound only bus lane on Fifth is silly, as the right lane is already primarily used by buses and people turning right. Speeding up the boarding process would do much more to speed up the buses than dedicating a lane to them. At least with the current set up a bus can change lanes to get around a slower bus or a line of 5 buses stopped at the same stop, with a dedicated bus lane this is less likely, and there's not enough sidewalk space to construct pulloffs along Fifth in Oakland.

[tyovan4]

Originally Posted by brother_rebus

Where in the life is mention of a bike lane up Fobes/5th corridor?
awful if it doesnt happen. the jail trail is not acceptable nor accessible.

Why not Centre Avenue instead? That would seem to me to be a much better alternative than Fifth or Forbes?

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by tyovan4

Why not Centre Avenue instead? That would seem to me to be a much better alternative than Fifth or Forbes?

The grade along Centre make that road much more difficult for casual cyclists than either Fifth or Forbes coming out of downtown, not to mention about 200 ft of additional elevation gain, pretty much double the elevation to go up Centre if you consider Craig St as the terminus for all routes.

[SuburbanPioneer]

As it is done in most major cities, having an underground subway system connecting downtown and oakland, and leaving the above ground roadways to motorists would help traffic congestion issues much greater than the proposed idea.
What is proposed looks like a loose collection of ideas from special interest groups trying to influence the process, rather than a real plan, developed by a dedicated and unbiased transportation committee. If the city is not capable of developing such a plan, they should consider hiring a professional firm to do this for them.

[Moby Hick]

Outside consultants are the least representative special interest group. Very few cities of this size have much underground subway.

[sealie]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

Outside consultants are the least representative special interest group. Very few cities of this size have much underground subway.

Oh, come on. If every man, woman, and child in Pittsburgh ponies up $7k, we'll get there in no time. As a bonus, it makes the construction cost of PNC Park look like pocket change by comparison.

[Merge]

Originally Posted by sealie

Oh, come on. If every man, woman, and child in Pittsburgh ponies up $7k, we'll get there in no time. As a bonus, it makes the construction cost of PNC Park look like pocket change by comparison.

And Suburban Pioneer will live up to her moniker, setting an example for her 'burban brethren by ponying up a hefty share of the taxes necessary to build an underground system. Sweet!

[eschaton]

I just realized something this morning.

1. Boulevard of the Allies is largely redundant through Uptown. It's built like a highway, but it's right next to 376, which you can easily get on around the Birmingham Bridge and get off Downtown.

2. Pittsburgh needs a route for the Downtown to Oakland BRT.

So why not put it on Boulevard of the Allies? Basically turn the two inbound lanes into a smaller surface route, and turn the outbound lanes into a limited-access busway? You'd need some minor work to the spaghetti of roads around the base of Oakland, but you could make it so it so the inbound hooks up with Fifth and the outbound with Forbes.

Uptown is pretty small north to south - you could easily walk from Boulevard of the Allies to Fifth Avenue in like five minutes. The only down side is Boulevard of the Allies isn't on grade by Duquense's campus, but you could always but a Duquense stop right where that pedestrian bridge is, and the problem would be solved.

Thoughts?

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I just realized something this morning.

1. Boulevard of the Allies is largely redundant through Uptown. It's built like a highway, but it's right next to 376, which you can easily get on around the Birmingham Bridge and get off Downtown.

2. Pittsburgh needs a route for the Downtown to Oakland BRT.

So why not put it on Boulevard of the Allies? Basically turn the two inbound lanes into a smaller surface route, and turn the outbound lanes into a limited-access busway? You'd need some minor work to the spaghetti of roads around the base of Oakland, but you could make it so it so the inbound hooks up with Fifth and the outbound with Forbes.

Uptown is pretty small north to south - you could easily walk from Boulevard of the Allies to Fifth Avenue in like five minutes. The only down side is Boulevard of the Allies isn't on grade by Duquense's campus, but you could always but a Duquense stop right where that pedestrian bridge is, and the problem would be solved.

Thoughts?

I don't think that would work.

First, the Boulevard is not totally redundant because of 579 (both ways) and the Liberty Tubes (one way). This is what I Like Spam mentioned earlier. Right now, the Boulevard takes quite a bit of traffic around the heart of downtown. I think it would be fine to slow down that traffic by making it an actual boulevard-style street instead of a ramp, if that's what you mean, but I think it has to stay there.

Second, you couldn't have the bus lanes through Oakland go on the Boulevard. It's too far from where people are. I don't know how you'd get the bus from one to the other, because to be of use, I think the bus needs to stay on Fifth/Forbes as far east as Carlow.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

First, the Boulevard is not totally redundant because of 579 (both ways) and the Liberty Tubes (one way). This is what I Like Spam mentioned earlier. Right now, the Boulevard takes quite a bit of traffic around the heart of downtown. I think it would be fine to slow down that traffic by making it an actual boulevard-style street instead of a ramp, if that's what you mean, but I think it has to stay there.

I wasn't advocating eliminating it, I was saying that it could be reduced to a two-lane surface road, with the current outbound side becoming a bus-only route.

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

Second, you couldn't have the bus lanes through Oakland go on the Boulevard. It's too far from where people are. I don't know how you'd get the bus from one to the other, because to be of use, I think the bus needs to stay on Fifth/Forbes as far east as Carlow.

Perhaps I wasn't clear. I meant you could reroute the tangle of ramps around the base of Oakland to ensure there was a bus onramp inbound from Fifth, and outbound onto Forbes.