Pittsburgh: A Cycling Hell

I like Pittsburgh, don't get me wrong. But I've been amazed on this trip how much a city's accessibility by bike can either warm the heart or create a vast pool of blind hatred. Pittsburgh, unfortunately, is the latter, requiring miles and miles of riding in heavy traffic, or over super steep hills, or both, to get into the fair city.

Welcome to Pennsylvania!

I rode over the hill through some pretty country, but came down to SR 51, which follows the Ohio River into the city. Now, this route is signposted as a 'State Bicycle Route', as you can see above. I'm not sure what genius thought this up, but 51 is engineered as a 4-lane divided highway, complete with rumble strips on the edge. Apparently 'bike-friendly' in this state means 'enjoy riding on the glass and debris-strewn shoulder for 25 miles while the 18-wheelers roll by at 60 mph'.

Amusingly, there are stretches where this road has a posted 35 mph limit, despite being clearly designed for 55 mph+. Note to highway engineers: if you build it, they will speed.

The kicker? 51, still marked as a bike route, merges into an interstate highway bridge with no obvious way of getting your bike off except riding across four lanes of traffic to the opposite sidewalk.

For all that, the approach to the city is beautiful:

To top it all off, I got a flat just a mile and a half from my destination in Shadyside. Harrumph. But it's always really wonderful to see Ashley, who's great company and has fine taste in breakfast joints besides!


Thanks, Ashley!