More bike lanes (Pittsburgh, York, Millville: dangerous, versus, safety)

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by xdv8

They can't bike home 15 miles away after work and they only care about heir own personal inconveniences.

15 miles takes them outside city limits . Good thing it's not their money being "wasted"!

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by ferraris

15 miles takes them outside city limits . Good thing it's not their money being "wasted"!

City wouldn't survive without outside revenue coming in. It needs every penny it can get and then some.

[xdv8]

Originally Posted by ferraris

15 miles takes them outside city limits . Good thing it's not their money being "wasted"!

Exactly. They need to check their outrage, this has nothing to do with them. Just keep on driving too fast through the city out to where there are no bike lanes

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by eschaton

IIRC there are plans to eventually continue the bike lane to the 31st Street Bridge. This would eliminate all the street side parking on the southern side of Penn Avenue through the heart of the Strip District though, unless they decided to make Penn Avenue only one lane through the Strip. Actually, that might be a great idea - I never really see the second lane on Penn getting much use unless it's the weekend and the weather is nice, and if there's congestion on Penn you could always switch to Liberty for a few blocks.

Ideally Penn Avenue should be:

SIDEWALK/CURB/BIKE LANE/PARKING LANE/TRAVEL LANE/PARKING LANE/CURB/SIDEWALK

^ In other words, there should only be ONE travel lane, parking can be kept on both sides of this lane, and a bike lane would be between the sidewalk and one parking lane on the southern (McDonald's/Penn Mac) side. I wish I could figure out how to draw a picture of this because this sounds great in my head!

[Biggworm]

Totally screws up traffic flow on East St.now. I still haven't seen a bicycle on it yet either!

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by eschaton

IIRC there are plans to eventually continue the bike lane to the 31st Street Bridge. This would eliminate all the street side parking on the southern side of Penn Avenue through the heart of the Strip District though, unless they decided to make Penn Avenue only one lane through the Strip. Actually, that might be a great idea - I never really see the second lane on Penn getting much use unless it's the weekend and the weather is nice, and if there's congestion on Penn you could always switch to Liberty for a few blocks.

I've always thought Penn Ave should be completely closed from car traffic from about 22nd down to 16th on the weekends until mid-afternoon, with the cross streets open for handicapped parking, local deliveries and through traffic between Smallman and Liberty. I am shocked more people aren't run over in that area. A permanent open street would actually be a plus for business there as it is nearly impossible to get parking on Penn, anyway.

[gg]

I think people are missing the bigger picture. Cycling infrastructure isn't about how many cyclist use it TODAY, it is about connectivity and safety to get people on bicycles more, BUT MOST importantly it is about marketing our city to outsiders, from investors, to companies, to people wanting to move out of the horrible NYC area or wherever and live here. People that have posted on this topic are only thinking about seeing a cyclist on that new bike lane. Ha, ha, ha! People need to think more long term and how this will effect our city in the next decade or so. Look at the riverfront projects. When they started people were laughing at them and saying the RRs won't even think of allowing access to our rivers. Hmm, how times have changed. Thank you Friends of the Riverfront and others. Stop thinking of only today and start thinking about our future. Young people are going to cycle more because as the population grows, there is less and less of the pie. Not enough money and that will lead to cutting one's costs. Not to mention student loans. Pittsburgh is on the right track. Relax.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by gg

I think people are missing the bigger picture. Cycling infrastructure isn't about how many cyclist use it TODAY, it is about connectivity and safety to get people on bicycles more, BUT MOST importantly it is about marketing our city to outsiders, from investors, to companies, to people wanting to move out of the horrible NYC area or wherever and live here. People that have posted on this topic are only thinking about seeing a cyclist on that new bike lane. Ha, ha, ha! People need to think more long term and how this will effect our city in the next decade or so. Look at the riverfront projects. When they started people were laughing at them and saying the RRs won't even think of allowing access to our rivers. Hmm, how times have changed. Thank you Friends of the Riverfront and others. Stop thinking of only today and start thinking about our future. Young people are going to cycle more because as the population grows, there is less and less of the pie. Not enough money and that will lead to cutting one's costs. Not to mention student loans. Pittsburgh is on the right track. Relax.

Amen, brother. I couldn't have said it better myself.

There is definitely a generation gap here. Rarely these days do we see government entities building for the future. Most of the money is spent keeping up the current infrastructure and status quo entitlements and other benefits for older generations. It is nice, as a younger person, to feel like my tax dollars for once are being spent on something that isn't solely funding pensions that my entire generation will never be eligible for or repairing roads and bridges that were allowed to fall into such disrepair that we have no choice but to fix them immediately. In the scheme of things, cycling infrastructure is so inexpensive and the amount of inconvenience is so low for non-users that it is mind-blowing to me for there to be as much vocal opposition as there is.

Young professionals moving from other cities to here absolutely take notice of the investment. We will never have a highway infrastructure like Atlanta. Our topography doesn't allow for it. Being progressive (or at least not being behind) is one of the things few we can afford to do right now to make things better.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by gg

I think people are missing the bigger picture. Cycling infrastructure isn't about how many cyclist use it TODAY, it is about connectivity and safety to get people on bicycles more, BUT MOST importantly it is about marketing our city to outsiders, from investors, to companies, to people wanting to move out of the horrible NYC area or wherever and live here. People that have posted on this topic are only thinking about seeing a cyclist on that new bike lane. Ha, ha, ha! People need to think more long term and how this will effect our city in the next decade or so. Look at the riverfront projects. When they started people were laughing at them and saying the RRs won't even think of allowing access to our rivers. Hmm, how times have changed. Thank you Friends of the Riverfront and others. Stop thinking of only today and start thinking about our future. Young people are going to cycle more because as the population grows, there is less and less of the pie. Not enough money and that will lead to cutting one's costs. Not to mention student loans. Pittsburgh is on the right track. Relax.

I can safely say that if and when the bike lanes are extended up Penn Avenue to 31st Street I will start cycling to work instead of walking. I could probably make it to my office in 15 minutes on a bike instead of 45 minutes on foot. Right now I just don't feel safe biking down Penn Avenue without a bike lane, though. I'm nearly hit at least once per week ON FOOT by people flying across the non-signalized side streets on Penn without first looking left to see if any pedestrians are crossing in front of them. They just crane their necks to the right to see if any vehicles are coming down Penn and then gun it without looking to see if a pedestrian is crossing straight ahead of them. If they can't see me, and I'm right there on foot, then they're not going to see me on a bike coming towards them, either.

[gg]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I can safely say that if and when the bike lanes are extended up Penn Avenue to 31st Street I will start cycling to work instead of walking. I could probably make it to my office in 15 minutes on a bike instead of 45 minutes on foot. Right now I just don't feel safe biking down Penn Avenue without a bike lane, though. I'm nearly hit at least once per week ON FOOT by people flying across the non-signalized side streets on Penn without first looking left to see if any pedestrians are crossing in front of them. They just crane their necks to the right to see if any vehicles are coming down Penn and then gun it without looking to see if a pedestrian is crossing straight ahead of them. If they can't see me, and I'm right there on foot, then they're not going to see me on a bike coming towards them, either.

There are other routes that are a little out of the way and it would still be way faster than walking. There is a little route I take that runs along Penn Ave on the right side coming out of the city and it even involves sidewalks. It is mostly a little alley and it takes you all the way up to Friendship. I don't blame you for not cycling however. My route has changed a lot over the years of me riding on the roadways. Too many selfish people texting and doing whatever while driving. Just different these days, but still much better than in the 80's.