Bicycle Advocacy
Bicyclists are an indicator species of a livable community, a place where our families are safe, healthy and economically secure. – Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
This is the crux of what we do here at Bike Pittsburgh. Advocacy takes many forms from specific campaigns and programs, to telephone calls with corporate developers, to meetings with elected officials. But with everything we do we’re always looking out for local bike riders and your interests. Listed below are some of the things we’ve been busy doing over the years. If any of these issues are important to you, let us know. There might be volunteer opportunities linked to them. And once again, if you’re not yet a member, please become one. The more members, the more advocacy work we can do. The more advocacy the more bike-friendly Pittsburgh becomes.
Bike the system - This is our campaign to get bike lanes, shared lane markings, and signs on the City of Pittsburgh’s system of bike routes. We produced a hand held map to make getting around easier and begin this process.
Bike the Vote – During election seasons, we send out questionnaires to the candidates to find out how they stand on improving cycling infrastructure in the City of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Democratic Mayoral Candidates 2009
Birmingham Bridge - The Birmingham Bridge is the overbuilt highway bridge connecting four Pittsburgh neighborhoods. The Hill, Uptown, Oakland, and the South Side. Speed Limit is posted at 35mph, but people drive upwards of 70mph on this bridge. Shoulders are wide, but the on and off ramps are very dangerous. Pedestrian access is only for those with working legs because in order to access the sidewalk one must climb stairs. >>more. Update as of 9/2007 - We got bike lanes on this bridge!
Bike Lanes - Pittsburgh’s streets are oftentimes too narrow for bike lanes, but we are advocating for striping lanes on the bike route system whenever possible
Shared Lane Markings - On streets that are a bit too narrow for lanes, or on busy sections of streets where bike lanes would be dangerous, we are advocating for the stenciling of Shared Lane Markings or “sharrows.” These stencils have two big chevrons with a picture of a bike and serve as on-street signage to tell drivers to watch out for bicyclists, while putting bicyclists out of the dangerous door-zone.
Bike Plan Implementation - Pittsburgh has a really comprehensive Bike Plan that’s actually quite good. What’s missing is an action plan for implementation. We need the political will from our elected officials to put some muscle behind the plan. We do this with support from folks like you. Please contact your City Councilperson and the Mayor today and tell them that you want to see the Bike Plan implemented!
Bike/Ped Coordinator – This is a tricky one because of the city’s financial woes, although it is in the Bicycle Plan. Well, actually a lot of these projects are kind of tricky due to Act 47, but we’re still pursuing it. Having a full-time bike/ped coordinator at the city level means that there is an individual within City Planning who concentrates on issues important to making bicycling and walking safer throughout the city. Update as of 12/12/07: Bike Pittsburgh was able to network the City with our biggest funder, the Richard King Mellon Foundation to fund this position! RK Mellon is giving $125,000 to the City of Pittsburgh to hire a full-time bike/ped coordinator for two years. Hopefully after this time period the City will have enough money in its coffers to be able to continue to fund this position. Thanks to all our members and friends who made phone calls and emailed the City about the importance of filling this position. They heard you!
August 2008: Bike/Ped Coordinater hired!
Bikes on Transit - We have been working with the Port Authority for well over a year now 
and the partnership has resulted in 12 routes being fully outfitted with racks with another 12 routes being rolled out in the spring of 2007. The Port Authority now has dozens of spare racks in case some break, and all of their new buses will come with racks already attached. We realize the system won’t work to it’s fullest potential without racks on every bus route, but we’re making strides to at least get to the point where every geographic region of the city is being served by Rack ‘n Roll.
Bike Racks - How many times do you ride your bike somewhere and either can’t find a place to lock it to or have to lock it to a parking meter or worse, a tree? Probably pretty often if you live in Pittsburgh. Well, we’ve been working to change this situation. Two years ago we partnered with Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and the Sprout Fund to install some fresh three-rivers bike racks around the city. The city legal 
department gave us a hard time and didn’t want to take on the extra liability of having racks in convenient locations around town (like every other city in America). In fact, it’s still fairly difficult to get a bike rack installed in Pittsburgh. We are working to change that. Write your councilperson and tell them you want more bike racks and that the city should do more to encourage biking to business districts. The more people who bike, the less congested our streets are.
Universities Connect! - This is an ongoing effort to connect the City’s Universities by bicycle. It includes a number of recommendations for improvement to help students, workers, and faculty get to and through the Oakland neighborhood to reduce congestion, improve safety, create more parking, and stay healthy.
Bike Transportation Funding - We’ve spent time lobbying our elected officials over the years to free up more funding and resources for bike transportation. This lobbying resulted in getting more money for bikes than ever before in the national transportation bill called SAFETEA-LU
Events - Fun events such as Bike to Work Week and BikeFest are more ways for Bike Pittsburgh to get the word out about bikes as transportation, and get people interested in biking for practical reasons as well as for recreation.
