CARS IN BIKE
LANES
This area has seen a higher than average number of bike injuries and fatalities due to cars over the years. The city has responded by providing bike lanes, but not all bike lanes are created equal.
The intersection in question features unbuffered bike lanes, a bus stop, and a Chipotle with no nearby parking. This results in cars constantly using the bike lane as parking, forcing cyclists to weave into speeding traffic that isn't expecting them. Worse yet, buses with massive blind spots encroach on the bike lane whether cyclists are present or not.
As a daily bike commuter, this moment always felt like the most dangerous part of my day.
I wanted to remember that my experiences aren't universal. So I recruited a few additional cyclists and performed ethnography studies, biking behind them at different points in the day. I recorded video from a handlebar mounted phone and they recorded their thoughts by speaking into airpods connected to a zoom meeting. For more on this testing and the results, please see this report.
The most dangerous part of this intersection are the unbuffered bike lanes. The lack of barriers prevent cars from weaving into the lanes or parking temporarily. Fortunately there are several options ranging in price and permanence. Since Pittsburgh requires plows in winter, a truly permanent solution isn't feasible.
Bike lane options
My report advocates for the installation of a separated bike lane featuring barriers to prevent cars from illegally parking. After speaking with local bike advocacy groups, I found that unfortunately the current street layout can't support this option due to space constraints.
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