For now, the controversial bike lane project in Pittsburgh’s Strip District will move forward after businesses and the city struck a deal on an updated design.
Lawyers from the city and the Strip District Business Association met for more than two hours at the City-County Building on Thursday morning and came to an agreement that addressed concerns over the fire code.
The association and its president, Jim Coen, who owns Yinzers in the Burgh, felt they made the right decision to file an injunction against the city.
“I’ve been working on this for two years, and I put thousands of hours in, and I feel like it’s a victory in a lot of ways,” Coen said. “Our pushback made [the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure] change the project.”
It led to them striking a deal in court for the department to revise its plan for bike lanes on Penn Avenue.
Workers had just recently started preparing for the project to start. It was set to reduce the portion of the street from 31st to 22nd from two lanes to one and add a bike lane, stopping before the busiest area heading towards Downtown. However, it was paused after the association was granted an emergency injunction.
The bike lane was supposed to be right up against the curb with a lane of parking and a physical barrier dividing it from the road. At the same time, the proposed width of the traffic lane violated the fire code.
The new plan places the bike lane next to traffic, calls for new painted buffers, and requires at least 20 feet of unobstructed roadway.
“At minimum, we were able to have them adjust that plan to make it so emergency vehicles can get in and out of the Strip,” said Robb Wilson, owner of PVA Design and Print and a director for the association.
However, he still doesn’t feel this is the best solution.
“For people to parallel park, now for people to load and unload trucks, they have to cross through a biking lane,” Wilson said.
President of Pittsburgh Fire Fighters IAFF Local No. 1 Ralph Sicuro, who previously spoke out about the possible violations, said he’s pleased by the changes, saying, “Safety for one should never endanger all.”
A city spokesperson told KDKA that the department “has been clear that it is important to make project compromises” while also working “to reduce vehicular crashes” and create “extra space” for bikers.
Though for Coen and other business owners, when all is said and done, they just want to make sure the project is done right and honors the neighborhood.
“We’re not just some mall somewhere,” Coen said. “We feel that it’s a historic street. It needs to be treated that way.”
Coen and Wilson said the association hasn’t decided if it is going to pursue further action against the city, but it plans to discuss what options it may have.