worst intersections
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i want to compile a list of the worst intersections, possibly for a future article in the messenger, and was looking for suggestions. I'm trying to decide whether to concentrate on the golden triangle or include anywhere in the city. They can be "worst" for any reason that you feel uncofortable or fear and should be something that you ride frequently or have trouble avoiding. anyway, i'll start: -West End Circle/bridge area-no need for explanation -Carson St. and PJ Mcardle.- coming from town, there is a long stretch where you have to ride in the left lane, and people get pissed. then you never know who has a green or the right of way. general suckiness and stress everytime i go through there.
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not one i commute on, but i've been bamboozed a time or two: grant ave. in millvale coming across 28 to the tracks and the trail, just past the 40th St. bridge
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Fifth and Penn at Washington Blvd. - lots of red light running at high speeds, turning traffic after red lights, both lanes turning across each other - yuck!
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Technically not an intersection, but getting the 62nd Street Bridge from Sharpsburgh. You get dumped right into the middle of the bridge. Yah!
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Forbes and Braddock, Fifth and Morewood (lots of red light running), Baum and anywhere, the 5 point intersection at the Penn ave/Bus depot/Penn Circle on the east end of East Lib. Penn and Braddock (people constantly run this light). I've seen a bunch of people run the light at Fifth and Bellefield too. We haven't even touched on downtown yet. sheesh.
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yeah, but do you get that nervous tinge, like, "here we go, let's roll" when you approach them? i can't say i get that anywhere downtown, aside from the intersection where fifth outbound forces you over to forbes, and you have to navigate those folks coming from the highway. oh yeah, i hate crossing near the armstrong tunnels. on the forbes side i feel like everyone wants to pass you to make the right turn, then you have the incoming with the noise of speeding cars and me thinking "i hope they know there's a light up here." on the secnd ave side, the intersection is straght up confusing, and big ben got hit there.
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I sort of get nervous around Grant and Ft. Pitt Blvd heading towards the river. Weird intersection (with 4 or 5 intersections) there and it's tricky to get on the shared-use sidewalk/path to the Smithfield St. bridge In the strip I get nervous at Smallman heading Northeast at the church (forget the cross there.. people fly down smallman and try to either make a right in front of me heading in the same direction, or a left from the oncoming lane. Not to mention that intersection for walkers is terrible.
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Bates and Blvd of the Allies, coming up into Oakland off the jail trail. If you're riding in the lane, you're likely to get cut off by someone turning left against you, and if you're riding on the left sidewalk (rather than crossing 2 lanes of freeway-minded drivers), you're likely to get cut off by someone turning left facing the same direction as you. I always plan my attack there - using cars going straight as a shield while I cross. Also, anywhere the cross street bends to the right makes right-on-red drivers feel obligated to NOT stop.
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In the strip I get nervous at Smallman heading Northeast at the church (forget the cross there.. people fly down smallman and try to either make a right in front of me heading in the same direction, or a left from the oncoming lane. Not to mention that intersection for walkers is terrible. The section of Smallman from the History to 21st is pretty nasty in general if there's any sort of traffic. The road is so wide what folks just tend to do whatever they like. One day, I had to avoid someone going the opposite way in my lane, between traffic and the parked cars. Crazy.
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My commute is short enough (and now, refined enough) that I avoid all the stressful intersections. I'm having trouble thinking of any. Usually I find that in the places where it is possible to act like a car, acting like a car gets you through easily. I'm going to quibble with you, Scott, about Forbes and Braddock. That's an intersection where it's pretty easy to act like a car -- if coming out Forbes (west) you've got the velocity to take whichever of the three lanes you need. And making a left turn off of Braddock (either south or north), you just take a lane and go with the flow. Here's a manuever I don't like -- east on 2nd Avenue and over the Hot Metal Bridge. Traffic moves too fast on 2nd to simply take the left lane, and the slope up the Hot Metal Bridge robs you of your speed right at the point where the bridge narrows. I'll be happy when the other bridge opens.
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I just get a feeling in the pit of my stomach at Forbes and Braddock that people are very impatient there and think they can beat me through the light (when traveling on Braddock). That whole area just moves way too fast for my liking. I haven't really had close calls there, it's just an overall sense of foreboding. The secret is to get on East End Ave as soon as you can.
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Fifth and Dithridge inbound Fifth and Neville going outbound I think those are the only two that really make me nervous every time. The rest I just take in stride. I still have never had problems with Hot Metal, but it seems like I'm the crazy one there.
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Turning left onto Hot Metal I can see being a bit worrisome, but that's because of Second Ave, not the bridge. I agree, the Hot Metal bridge has never bothered me. It's a short ride. I wanted to add heading straight, towards Bloomfield, on liberty at the Bloomfield bridge. Cars facing you keep turning left way after the arrow, and cars making a right off the bridge, in a lane that bends to the right like I said before, don't start to look until they're already 3/4 the way out. Also, 5th and Craft heading into Oakland in the bus lane, which you're not supposed to do so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. But, the cars turning left, especially at rush hour, will not even yield for the busses usually, much less a biker.
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hot metal is bad when there is bumper to bumper traffic on it. i was splitting the lane on that once, and some guy opened the door on me and started yelling at me. i was like, "dude, i'm riding through a parking lot."
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Millvale Avenue, right at Yew, coming from Liberty (by Sonny's Tavern, right before the bridge). I used to live by this little bastard and saw countless accidents and near misses. I heard car horns and tires screeching all the time too. Basically you're coming down this nice hill but the curve is odd... people coming off of Yew either don't see you or misjudge your speed. It's really bad news, and people rip over that bridge too (even though it's right in the middle of a residential) after picking up speed on the hill from Liberty. I've seen: * two bikers collide here * a biker nearly go over the hood of a car that poked out too far * I think Ted got hit here? * a biker hit a parked car while taking the curve (not sure what happened exactly) * and a rather embarrasing incident where I nearly hit a biker with my truck as I pulled out of Yew because it was dark and she a.) had no lights (or helmet) and b.) was doing that thing where you're trying to ride so close to the curb that you weave around parked cars to do so. I felt like a jackass I couldn't even see her. Front lights and reflective tape are more important!
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err... I meant to type "more important than people realize"
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This is a funny discussion -- poeple's perceptions of these intersections may just be different. I ride through Fifth & Neville every day in a couple different directions and never am bothered by it. Maybe it's my style, dunno. On the other hand, I only rarely ride Millvale and maybe because it's uncommon I never thought about the danger at Yew. I'm not disputing it -- the next time I ride through I'll take a couple extra looks -- I appreciate the tip. I think Eric's trying to start an argument over in another thread about riding styles and other things. I aint gonna argue here, but just say that (1) headlights are a good idea and (2) weaving around parked cars to hug the curb is not.
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I aint gonna argue here, but just say that (1) headlights are a good idea and (2) weaving around parked cars to hug the curb is not. amen, brother
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here is a post gazette article that highlights some worst intersections for pedestrians
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Liberty at Ligonier St bugs me going either direction. i have pretty much stopped riding Liberty to/from school, though. i find drivers at 5th and Craft to be pretty accomodating usually. worst ever was riding the Blvd. to school when i lived in oakland. having to cross over to stay on it instead of taking whatever exit (2nd ave?) was really scary some mornings.
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The 5 way intersection of Penn, Butler st. and 34th st. is dangerous, especially eastbound Penn to Butler, only because I've seen cars do some pretty stupid things there.
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I'm going to disagree with my husband and agree with Scott -- Forbes & Braddock is a nightmare. I go through it often as a pedestrian, usually with child(ren) in tow. It has a problem common to a lot of intersections: Drivers don't look at their own light! If you hit the button and wait for the walk signal, eventually all cars have a red light so pedestrians can cross in all directions. Unfortunately, boneheaded drivers watch the light for opposing traffic. As soon as that light turns red, they assume they have the green light and hit the gas. This is extremely dangerous, and it's part of the reason I support Bill Peduto's cameras at intersections.
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hey, no marital arguments on the bike pgh board.
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This may be a little late, but I got in my accident at the three way intersection of Baum/Centre/Negley. This is where the small island exists with a Hertz in it. I think there are two main issues with this area. the first is drivers heading N on Negley from shadyside and turning left to get onto Baum. The second is the two lanes coming S on Negley. People don't realize the right lane is there for right turns only and pull up behind me after the light.
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Yep. That intersection, and the intersection at Negley and Penn, heading south, are nasty. Add to that, the intersection at Negley and Black, at rush hour, and that's a heck of a stretch of a road. I would really, really, really like to see signs painted on the lanes indicating that the right hand lanes should be for turning only.
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right around that area is the only intersection in the city that i've ever feared. it's weird, cuz i've biked it so many times that i'm not in anyway afraid to go through, but i generally always know something bad is going to happen there. i'm talking about riding along aiken across centre ave. i commuted this way to work for years and years, and every time i come to this intersection, i just assume someone is going to turn in front of me. my favorite is on the way to work, heading north along aiken, someone will pass me to get to the intersection, then turn right across me, and i'll have to anticipate this or die. but even more often, i'll be coming down liberty/aiken into shadyside--and this is the part of the street that's the steepest, so if there's not traffic to stop you up, it's the part where you pick up the most speed--a car will go through the intersection about a second in front of me, then a car that was waiting to turn left will either not see me or see me and not realize how fast i'm going and turn left in front of me. the only intersection i've been hit at was liberty at millvale, but this is the one i go through expecting traffic to be the most adverse. now, my absolute least favorite street in the world is crane ave. from 51 to dagmar. it's narrow, and as i'm going up this giant hill at 12 (ok, 7) mph, cars are flying by at 50. don't ask why i go up crane ave. in beechview, please. but i hate it.
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When coming from shadyside...Highland Ave @ East Liberty Boulevard..I ussually find myself blocked by a bus sitting in the right lane, and that bus is usually there waiting because this light takes forever, letting the boulevard traffic pass...or i find myself leading the pack and the cars behind me get annoyed at this intersection for some reason...I usually try to get a good jump start here to get them off my back, and the worst part is that there is a yeild lane for the boulevard traffic and they like to turn right into bikers as there coming through that major intersection, like somehow they dont see us...then not to mention the sunoco that sits there where more vehicles jump out at you! and finally the road condition there across from peabody high school is rediculous,bikers have to endure a series of bumps while watching out for these yielding vehicles while a car behind you is riding your A$$...Wow thats just one intersection, sorry for the lack of brevity here what can I say, this is a good topic!
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California Ave coming from Bellevue, just prior to Marshall. It's a nice downhill so you're cruising probably 20+ mph, but Rt65 feeds it a lane of cars that are usually screaming along at 50+ mph and suddenly you're in the left lane, in their blind spot, and they're anxious to make either a left onto Marshall or the left-U to go back up Calif, and you're right where they want to be. Nasty.
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Anything and Grant downtown when it's wet.
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Nelldb - how did it take until the second page to mention the doughboy square intersection? WORST EVER. Also, liberty at Herron ave. Sucks going down cause cars make the left in front of you pretty much no matter what. Also sucks going up for the same reason, but at least you are going slower.
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The doughboy intersection is pretty bad regardless of your mode of transportation, methinks.
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Penn Ave, All intersections from Center to Braddock, but most notoriously Fifth and Penn. I've seen many car accidents here in addition to it being one of the worst places to ride. Fifth Ave actually from Morewood until Penn is less than desirable, but Ellsworth is an easy enough alternative.
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I've got a few. One is Allegheny circle (n. side)headed east (post office on the right.) cars pull out of the parking garage and cross four lanes of traffic to bear right out of the circle. Probably not that bad, its just that I got hit there and had close calls. They're just not looking for you out there. How about 6th and liberty down town! coming north on 6th. There is a blind turn and even with a green light there is no telling whether there will be a bus turning left, or a ped with an umbrella over their head, or pushing a stroller, or what. Then Sixth and forbes making the left on forbes going south on sixth. There is a green arrow that transitions into a greenlight with no yellow. Opposing traffic comes from a highway, so pottential high speeds. And when the light goes from arrow to green, technically, you should yeild, but then you risk getting rearended by the guy on your ass, but if you go, you're breaking the rules, plus risking a t-bone. These are all part of my daily, so they stick out the most to me. The points when I feel a bit of fear. Anyone else on those?
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Sure would be nice if the city could put half the effort into enforcing "stop at stop signs and red lights" as they do into enforcing alternate-side parking.
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has anyone yet said the intersection of MAIN and LIBERTY in front of the try'n save? i was hit there the other night coming off of the the bloomfield bridge onto main st by a motorist running the light to make a right hand turn onto main. which is funny, because i always expect to get t-boned there by motorists turning right onto onto howley, but not rear ended by impatient (incompetent) people running lights looking for people turning onto howley but not directly in front of them. ps. - i yet again shook hands with the fellow who ran me over as we agreed to neither involve cops nor insurance, but to have my bike repaired at the drivers expense. moral - don't do that. people suck.
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