After considerable debate and a halted start due to legal intervention, Penn Avenue's contentious bike lane project in Pittsburgh's Strip District is set to proceed with a newly negotiated design, as reported by WTAE. The revised plan comes on the heels of an emergency injunction filed by the Strip District Business Association, which argued the city had previously ignored their input and concerns regarding safety and access for emergency vehicles.
The initial plan to reduce traffic to a single lane from two on a nine-block stretch of Penn Avenue and create a parking-protected bike lane was met with resistance from local business owners, who filed a lawsuit expressing fears that such changes would not accommodate fire trucks, and in a statement obtained by WTAE, business owner Jim Coen said "If we didn’t get an extra five feet, a fire truck can’t get through, it could be bad," this pushback resulted in the intervention of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI), which led to the agreement of a revised plan ensuring "our first responders have the same roadway access as existing conditions."
According to a CBS News Pittsburgh interview, the newly struck deal addresses previous concerns about the fire code by ditching the initial protected bike lane for one adjacent to traffic, supplemented by new painted buffers and maintaining at least 20 feet of clear roadway. Robb Wilson, an association director, while acknowledging the revisions, voiced continued reservations, "For people to parallel park, now for people to load and unload trucks, they have to cross through a biking lane."
The alterations are a result of concerted effort and the department's flexibility, a city spokesperson explained to KDKA, highlighting that the department has been clear that it is important to make project compromises while aiming to reduce vehicular incidents and provide extra space for cyclists.
