From Oakland to Boyce Park on a bike. Any safe route? (Pittsburgh: neighborhoods, live in)

[amrgb]

I live in Oakland (near St Paul's cathedral), and I would like to go to Boyce Park on a bike, since I don't have a car (I'm tired of riding the Frick trails).

I'm relatively new in the city and because I don't have a car I only know the Oakland, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill neighborhoods. I went looking for information on the safety of the neighborhoods I was planning to pass by in my trip to Boyce Park (that's when I found this forum) and it looks like I was about to pass in the middle of Homewood What I had planned was 5th Ave -> Bennett St. -> Frankstown Ave -> Universal Rd... The problem is that it looks like there is no safe route to Boyce Park. However, most of the bad action seems to happen after dark.

So, I have two questions. First, what's the safest (and not excessively long) route from Oakland to Boyce Park that I can ride in a bike? Second, how unsafe is Homewood and Wilkinsburg in a weekend morning? Enough to avoid them?

TIA

[BrianTH]

I'm not exactly sure what this would be like on a bike, but it would be a pleasant route and not too far out of your way to go up through Highland Park (say via Negley), along the river to Longue Vue, then cut down either side of Longue Vue to Verona Road, then to Saltsburg Road, which should take you all the way out to Boyce.

If you wanted to do a southern route, again without knowing how this would be on a bike, I might stick to Penn Avenue all the way out to Churchill (I personally don't find Penn Avenue all that scary, even the not-so-nice parts), then cut up Beulah Road to Frankstown, and continue your planned route from there.

[gallacus]

For this type of information, refer to bikely. I'm not sure if they have anything on there about this route yet, but you can search, or even ask someone for it there.

[NowACityGirl]

I'm sure if you're on a bike and it's a weekend morning, you'll be fine traveling through Homewood. You're going faster than people can run, and most people are usually too tired on weekend mornings to care about bothering with people. I say you should be fine. I've driven through Homewood on a Saturday morning and there wasn't much going on.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by amrgb

I live in Oakland (near St Paul's cathedral), and I would like to go to Boyce Park on a bike, since I don't have a car (I'm tired of riding the Frick trails).

I'm relatively new in the city and because I don't have a car I only know the Oakland, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill neighborhoods. I went looking for information on the safety of the neighborhoods I was planning to pass by in my trip to Boyce Park (that's when I found this forum) and it looks like I was about to pass in the middle of Homewood What I had planned was 5th Ave -> Bennett St. -> Frankstown Ave -> Universal Rd... The problem is that it looks like there is no safe route to Boyce Park. However, most of the bad action seems to happen after dark.

So, I have two questions. First, what's the safest (and not excessively long) route from Oakland to Boyce Park that I can ride in a bike? Second, how unsafe is Homewood and Wilkinsburg in a weekend morning? Enough to avoid them?

TIA

My God....that's got to be like 147 million miles, I usually wouldn't feel like driving that far. Anyway, you're going to get hit...I doubt there are any bicycle friendly routes.

[gallacus]

Originally Posted by zip95

My God....that's got to be like 147 million miles, I usually wouldn't feel like driving that far. Anyway, you're going to get hit...I doubt there are any bicycle friendly routes.

This guy always cracks me up. This route really isn't that far... I'm planning a trip to Seven Springs and back once the weather gets a little warmer.

[amrgb]

Thanks you all for the replies. They have been really helpful.

@zip95: don't worry, I have legs for much more than that... if I don't get hit