Mon Whorf Switchback Show and Tell

11/4/2014 17m

Today was an Urbanist jaunt. Addy Smith-Reiman, project manager for Riverlife on the Mon Whorf- Smithfield St. Bridge switchback connector, offered to take some BikePgh folks on a show-and-tell on the project.

Agenda Disclosure: Yes, I know it's spelled "wharf". This is part of my agenda to have that area renamed as the "Mon Whorf", in memory of Benjamin Whorf, my fave linguist "widely known as an advocate for the idea that because of linguistic differences in grammar and usage, speakers of different languages conceptualize and experience the world differently". ¹

This is the view from the Hot Metal Bridge, to give a sense of what a nice day it was:

Pan/Slide/Skew to the right to see the Smithfield St Switchback:

(My compliments to the artists, very nicely done)

It was a great briefing. Started with the history of the project and How We Got To Today. Talked about the initial design and factors resulting in the re-design. Smith-Reiman is very impressive, she's the kind of person you want working on these things.

Did I mention Addy is a cyclist? She rolled up in her 1938 Raleigh Gazelle, which is quite spiffed out:


The bracket on the handlebars is from Popins.fr and it is an umbrella mount. (interview, website)

Also, if you buying a gift for a Pittsburgh cyclist, this might be of interest >>>

A slice of every purchase goes to BikePgh. This is made by AeroTechDesigns in Coraopolis (and they support every bike group in Pittsburgh).