Judge slashes bond amount needed to block Strip District bike lane work

A judge on Wednesday dramatically reduced the bond the Strip District Business Association must pay to force Pittsburgh to temporarily halt efforts to change a portion of Penn Avenue to a one-lane street with a bike lane.

Despite the move, the business group continued to object to paying any amount.

The group last month sued the city over the proposed changes, which would impact Penn Avenue between 22nd and 31st streets.

It argued that reducing that two-lane stretch of the Strip District to one lane would cause massive traffic jams and make it harder for fire trucks and ambulances to respond to emergencies.

Pittsburgh’s lawyers initially sought a $112,000 bond, meaning the businesses would have had to scrape up that amount in order to have paving and milling work stopped for the time being.

But the business association balked at the cost. Because it didn’t put up the money, an injunction the judge had ordered to pause the work never technically went into effect.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alan Hertzberg on Wednesday agreed to reduce the bond to $39,749.56.

Jim Coen, owner of Yinzers in the Burgh and head of the Strip District Business Association, told TribLive he thought the bond was still unfair. He said he needed to talk with the rest of his organization before commenting on whether the group would pay the reduced amount.

Already, the city has moved ahead with milling and paving work at the site.

The Strip District Business Association does not object to resurfacing the road, but has a problem with converting part of it to a bike lane, said John Daller, the association’s attorney.

The bond is meant to cover any damages the city may face from the injunction.

Associate City Solicitor John Doherty said that would include the cost of putting down temporary pavement markings during the injunction and then possibly replacing them with new ones to show a bike lane should the business association lose its case.

Even if the city wins, Doherty pointed out, the city would still need to replace temporary markings with permanent ones.

Daller had asked Hertzberg to reduce the bond to a “nominal amount,” arguing the city did not provide documentation proving they would face a specific amount of damages because of the injunction.

“This number has no basis in reality that has been represented to the court,” he said.

But Doherty said the figure was based on an estimate provided by a city traffic engineer. He pointed out city finances are “not very good.”

Hertzberg told attorneys there had to be a bond and he did not believe the city’s estimate was presented in bad faith, so he agreed to the figure.

The amount shrunk from the initial amount because the paving and milling work was completed before an injunction could go into effect.

Another hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16.

The city has argued the Penn Avenue project is aimed at reducing traffic crashes in a stretch that saw 87 wrecks between 2020 and 2024.