Hot Metal Bridge to Boston's Green Box Car and the GAP

8/13/11

0600 2 McD burrito 1200 berry parfait

Rode 38 miles on trails from the Hot Metal Bridge to the Green box car in Boston, PA, with R, S, S and M.



It was a great morning for a ride, we assembled at 0700 at the south end of the Jail Trail in South Oakland. Took the Hot Metal Bridge, the Southside Trail, the Baldwin Borough Trail, Sandcastle, the Waterfront Trail, the Coaster Trail, the Riverton Bridge, the McKeesport Trail, the Boston trail (including the Durabond Hill), stopping at the green boxcar in Boston PA.

8/13/11 Week 31

this week: 214 miles

[3rd quarter: 1039 miles]    2011: 2774 miles

Urban Ride, Two New Trail Segments

06/09/11 #220.4 25m

0800 yogurt crackers 1000 banana, granola bar 1145 strawberry pancakes (pamela's) 1400 granola bar, honey 1700 peanut butter, crackers, chex mix

Rode 25 miles in 2h12m, road bike, an urban ride.

Started at Western Penitentiary, rode to the stadiums then out to Millvale, had strawberry pancakes at Pamela's. I really enjoy Pamela's, the ride to breakfast is becoming a favorite. Sightings included a squad of four hipsters, each with a messenger bag with a blinky on it, but no bicycles. One hipster had a tattoo of the Boston T system on her calf, that was pretty cool.

Back to the Ft. Duquesne bridge, Point State Park, and then the brand new Strip District trail along the south shore of the Allegheny River, from the Point out to 24th Street.

The Strip District Trail (which I think I'm going to call the Strip Trail until somebody announces a better name) is a very nice paved trail, it climbs and descends - it's not a rail-trail - and it's a great addition. I do think that the section closest to Point State Park might pose a security issue for single female riders after dark - there's just a lot of limited sight areas around the concrete pillars of the overhead highway.

Left the Strip Trail and rode over to Penn Avenue, and rode through the Strip District to Blvd of the Allies, noticed that the Arts Festival is in town, rode down to Grant Street. There was a lunchtime concert in one of the corner parks, it was nice to see the sharrows marked on Penn, very cool ride with an urban vibe.

From Grant Street I took the Jail Trail down to the Hot Metal Bridge, noticed that the trail connector between the HMB and the new trail behind AEO is now open. Rode over to Southside Works, and realized < rant > there isn't much in the way of public waterfountains - or public shade, for that matter - in this development that I local government subsidized. < /rant off>

Stopped at Subway, which is often the best place for a bicyclist to stop - they're very cool about filling your bottles with soda fountain's water lever and ice dispenser. Cooled off there, it was a bit warm outside (88F).

Rejoined the trail at REI, rode north to Station Square, took the Ft. Pitt Bridge, noodled around Point State Park to see where it will eventually connect to the Mon Whorf trail, crossed the Ft. Duquesne bridge and returned to Western Penitentiary.

Interesting Sightings: saw a cool hard-shell locking trunk bag on a parked bike which would be great equipment for a commuter. Also saw a tandem recumbent.

Southside Works 2011 Bike Trail

3/28/11 #237
27.8 miles 34F

Had an excellent ride today. Started in South Oakland, road the Jail Trail to the Penitentiary Trail, out along the Riverside Trail to Millvale. At the end of the trail in Millvale I had planned on stopping for a snack at Pamela's Pancakes, because every great ride needs a great food stop. Unfortunately, I got there at 4.30 and Pamela's closes at 4pm, so that foodventure will have to wait for another day and another blog post.

Back along the Riverside Trail, out on Herr's Island, back to the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, Ft. Pitt bridge, and the Station Square and Southside Trails.

The transition from the Southside Trail to the Baldwin Borough Trail, and specifically the section between Southside Works and the Hot Metal Bridge, has always puzzled me. Here's a picture from Google Maps, with a few key landmarks - The HofbrauHaus, REI, and the American Eagle building marked for orientation.



The trail designers have done so well in so many ways, but the current "Tunnel Park" segment seems non-intuitive and somewhat neglected. From the ground-level perspective, even the name Tunnel Park hasn't made sense, at least until I learned there's a train tunnel under there. This picture shows the path of the train tracks at either end of Tunnel Park.


This picture depicts the bicycle trails as routed in 2010, which really do leave bicyclists to fend for themselves. I've commented before that I don't know how an itinerant bicyclist manages to find their way through there, and it doesn't surprise me that the folks at American Eagle's corporate campus are finding bicycles riding on their sidewalks.

Today's Discovery

Today on my ride, I happened to ride to the back of the HofbrauHaus plaza just to see what the river looked like from there. Below the HofbrauHaus is a busy construction scene, building what looks like a magnificent trail section. It's breathtaking, quite dramatic. It seems like this will be the trail route from the Hot Metal Bridge along the Monongahela, past American Eagle and HofbrauHaus. This picture shows the apparent route of the future trail:


I have thought that the new Millvale connector trail might be the most elegant trail design in the area, and I have looked forward to what promises to be a very sophisticated design on the Mon Wharf Trail, connecting the Smithfield Street Bridge to Point State Park. The trail design along the river at Southside Works beats them hands down, it's very impressive.