City named 20th most bike-friendly in country
A Colorado-based bicycle advocacy organization has ranked Pittsburgh as its 20th most bike-friendly city in the U.S.
The PeopleForBikes Foundation’s latest ranking is 150 spots higher than the one it gave the city in 2019, when Pittsburgh landed No. 170 on the group’s city ratings system.
Pittsburgh earned three stars out of five overall in bike friendliness. PeopleForBikes compiles the overall score through 184 calculations using data such as community surveys and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
PeopleForBikes also uses five “indicators” of a bike-friendly city to build the final overall ranking: ridership, safety, network (how well places in the city are connected), reach, (how well the network equally serves people) and acceleration, (how quickly a city is adapting and encouraging bike infrastructure). These indicators also are scored out of five stars.
Pittsburgh’s best score came in the safety and acceleration categories at 2.9 stars in each. The city earned a 2.3 rating in ridership, a 2.2 in network and a 2.0 in reach. The city improved in each category except reach, which received 2.5 stars in 2019.
“The data shows Pittsburgh is showing real progress in making it easier for people to use bicycles as a safe, affordable, and enjoyable way to get around our compact city,” said Karina Ricks, director of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, in a news release.
In total, 550 cities were ranked by PeopleForBikes. The top five cities on the list are San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Madison, Wis.; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Washington, D.C.; and Missoula, Mont.
The PeopleForBikes report comes months after Pittsburgh released a 71-page draft of a master plan to provide a “safe, connected, convenient” network for people who wish to commute by means
other than a car, such as by bicycle or motorized scooter.
The master plan includes an additional 120 miles of bike lanes in the city. In a 2017 interview with the Pittsburgh PostGazette, Mayor Bill Peduto, a proponent of bike lanes, joked that “bikelash” would hurt his chances for re-election as he pushed for more funding for bike infrastructure.
The city has 30 miles of dedicated bike lanes and an additional 44 miles of bike trails.
Aaron Evangelista, 22, of the South Hills, says he routinely rides from South Hills to the North Shore through the city. He said that while there has been an improvement in Pittsburgh’s bike infrastructure in recent years, he would like to see more from the city’s bike lanes.
“My big complaint is there are a lot of times where the bike lane just ends with no warning or sometimes the bike lane will split so that there is traffic on either side of you,” Mr. Evangelista said.
“I also drive a car, so at the same time, it’s frustrating when parking is taken up in already busy areas. The worst thing is an established bike lane that merges into traffic.”
Mr. Evangelista, who is a student at the University of Pittsburgh, said a big step for the city would be to add more dedicated bike lanes. He recalled a time last summer when he was sideswiped by a car while riding in the road in the Mount
Oliver area.
“A bike lane would have helped. It gives motorists — if they’re staying in their lanes — 2 to 3 feet,” he said. Mr. Evangelista also wished for better documentation of bike lanes on Google Maps and other GPS databases.