Bike Pittsburgh

bloomfield to downtown?

I'm moving to bloomfield from the south hills and am looking forward to (hopefully) an easier ride to work and school. What are the best route to get to town from Bloomfield? Is there a better way to go during certain times of day because of traffic? Thanks for the help!

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

there isn't a great way unfortunately, there are bike lanes down liberty down the hill and then you can take that down to smallman into downtown... that's the way i would probably go if i was worried about traffic.

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

Welcome to Bloomfield...

What Mark said on getting downtown. It's three miles to the point from the Bloomfield Bridge, Head down Liberty to 32nd or so, cross to Penn or Smallman and head on in. I take Smallman on the way back before crossing to Liberty at Brewer's Bar.

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

I like Liberty to 32nd to Penn for the way in. Way home I would do Smallman to 34th, but that's kind of a steep hill (34th).

There's no real ideal way (believe me we've thought a lot about this). Hopefully one day folks can safely take 32nd to Liberty and get a light and a bike lane there. Currently 32nd is one way north and there's no light at Liberty. Bike Lanes also stop at Heron St Bridge.

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

if you're not worried about time its always nice to cross the 31st street bridge and take river ave/the trail to the 7th st bridge, thats a real nice ride but it is definately longer... there is noooo traffic to be heard of though

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

a lot of people disagree with me on this one, but I lived in Bloomfield for a lot of years, and always found the straight shot down Liberty (and back up Liberty) to be the best route. Yes, traffic is moving fast, but it is mostly moving with you, with little in the way of parked cars, etc. When I had to do the ride recently, after several years of living in another part of town, I tried the Penn Avenue route suggested by others. I will never ride that route again. I thought it was more dangerous (distracted drivers, lots of parked cars, pedestrians everywhere) than Liberty. This was mid day, during the week.

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

P.S. River Avenue and/or the trail, and then across the 31st Street Bridge is also a nice option on the way home.

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

I'll disagree. I ride in lots of places on my bike, but one of them isn't the stretch of Liberty from 14th-32nd or so. Deathtrap.

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

thanks so much everyone for your help. I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out now. Hope to see you on the streets!

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

i actually have to agree on the penn vs liberty arguement, when i lived on the northside liberty was definately the choice of the two... fortunately i rarely took either because there are good alternatives to both...

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

Outbound, what about Smallman to the end, wiggle over to 39th and go up the hill there? 39th is what's shown on the bike map, and Smallman is fairly bike friendly.

Haven't tried this myself point to point as you'll need to, but I often cross the 40th St Bridge, then go either Downtown via Smallman or up the hill (usually on 40th St itself) into Bloomfield on my way to Oakland or SqHill.

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

I'm moving out of bloomfield so I may not overlap, but if you complete the move before 8/1, shout out and I'll ride along to give moral support while you're getting used to it.

I agree with Sara about Liberty being fine. There was actually a little more road surface available before the bike lane addition, as motorists have now stopped parking on the sidewalk or particularly near the curb, in fact. But it's still okay, despite the paint stripes.

People seem to have an irrational fear of riding on multi-lane roads, but for the most part, they're better than single-lane roads because the overtaking motorists can just change lanes to pass you. It's the single-lane roads that tempt drivers to squeeze by (and, on Smallman, just as you're about to hit that vicious pothole or sewer grate). Smallman also has on-street parking and all kinds of cross traffic and drivers always seem to try to squeeze by unsafely. I've been riding Liberty for years and never had a real problem. I do avoid it after dark in the rain, however -- visibility just isn't good enough. The most important thing there is riding predictably, assertive signalling, and proper lane positioning (and not being a gutter-bunny). One tweak that might help on the return trip is to ride up Penn to 16th St, then turn left onto Liberty, so you miss the dark railroad overpass, the potholes under it, and the somewhat poor visibility there. Once you're east of 16th street you're in the clear.

As for Penn, there are two distinctly different segments -- from Mathilda to 31st is two-way and downhill and from 31st to downtown is one-way and multi-lane.

I will ride it both directions but I'm not crazy about the uphill from the light at Doughboy Square to Main St. Between the on-street parking, the motorists desperately (and stupidly) trying to beat you to the top of the hill only to end up sitting at the light, and the PAT busses that want to squeeeeeze by you, it kind of stinks. An alternative is to ride out Butler and then come up the hill from L'ville along one of the secondary side streets.

The one-way portion of Penn is fine -- the traffic is light and there's plenty of roadway for motorists to change lanes and give you clearance, while still leaving you plenty of room to avoid the door/pothole/broken-glass/sewer-grate zone.

The thing that scares me sometimes about Penn is if I'm going fullspeed down the hill from 40th St to Doughboy Square, I'm always worried about the cross-traffic pulling out in front of me from the side streets. You have to stay well out into the lane, so you can see into the side streets around the parked vans and SUVs a second sooner (and so the driver on the side street can see *you*, natch).

No matter what anyone says, all the routes from Bloomfield to downtown are bound to be better than any of the routes from the South Hills...

RE: bloomfield to downtown?

Thanks so much Lyle! Ironically I am moving in on the 1st so I will just miss you! I appreciate the offer though. Hopefully I will be able to survive anyways. Thanks again for all your help!