Pittsburgh adds first-of-its-kind advisory bike lane
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh continues to make room for bikers a priority.
A new road configuration is now in place on the South Side, and it's the first of its kind in the city. On South 18th Street from the railroad tracks to under the Birmingham Bridge, it's gone from two lanes for cars down to one. There are now bike lanes on both sides of the road, and this new infrastructure is called an advisory bike lane.
"They're used all over the country and all over the world, but it's the first one here in our city," Bike PGH Advocacy Director Eric Boerer said.
For drivers coming toward each other, they will yield to any bicyclists, move into the bike lane, pass each other and continue on.
"It's really no different than any other narrow street in Pittsburgh where you have two cars approaching and you have to negotiate passing each other safely," Boerer said.
There is signage as you cross the railroad tracks and leave the boat launch on the Riverfront. According to Bike Pittsburgh, this street was a perfect fit for the change because it's in a park, has a lower speed limit and is predominately used by cyclists.
"That street's a connector to two segments of trails that lead to the whole trail section of the whole city," Boerer said.
According to the organization, this was discussed as part of the city's Bike(+) Plan in 2020. Then, the city's Department of Mobility and Infrastructure installed it last week. To this point, no issues have been reported.
The hope is to have a connected biking grid for getting around town.
"When they're riding, if they're new to town or new to cycling even, they can follow the street markings or just follow the trail to get to all the pieces they need to," Boerer said.
To learn more about this road layout and the city's complete streets plan, click here.