New Bike Lanes To Be Built In Strip District
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Some of the most crowded places to drive in Pittsburgh are getting makeovers as dedicated bike lanes are being installed all around town.
Construction in Schenley Plaza around Oakland is just about done. The bike lanes are striped. They have got the barriers up that separate the car traffic from the bike traffic, but it is far from done around Pittsburgh.
As a matter of fact next, they move to the Strip District.
City Public Works crews are busy in Oakland installing hundreds of barriers to give bikers their own space.
"Just riding on the road, there's been so many times when other cars would be like, 'Get off the road. You don't belong here,'" Megan Fabbri said. "I'm very happy this is all going in."
Fabbri, a second-year grad student, is among the growing number of people who choose to bike to work every day.
"If you build it, they will come. It's directly linked to the type of bike facilities that we put in as a city," Bike Pittsburgh Executive Director Scott Bricker said.
Bricker knows it's the old chicken or the egg debate. How can you get bikers to ride if there is no place for them to safely bike?
"This is really going to attract many, many more people to ride their bikes, and it is going to link up to a future River Green Boulevard, which will go all the way to Highland Park car-free," Bricker said.
Artist renderings show what Penn Avenue will eventually look like in the Strip District. Yes, you lose a lane of parking, but it is part of the mayor's plan to follow the rest of the world's lead and become a bike-friendly city.
"Where I am from, we have long lanes everywhere. You'll see lot of people biking for work, for school, everywhere," Guido Caramago said.
It will take some time before it is all done here in Pittsburgh, but when it is finished, riders say they can't wait to be able to ride safely all around town.
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