Shadyside's Aiken Avenue to get redesign, protected bike lanes

Pittsburgh officials hope reconfiguring the lanes on a stretch of Shadyside’s Aiken Avenue will make the street safer for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.

Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, D-Shadyside, met Monday with community members and bike advocates to discuss the project.

Strassburger said the stretch of Aiken has seen nearly 60 crashes in the past five years, averaging about one a month. She said the planned “road diet,” in which the number of vehicle lanes will be reduced, should make the area safer for everyone.

“What we have seen from other road diets and the addition of bike lanes, is the speed of vehicles generally slows dramatically,” said Strassburger. “That should provide a safer route for pedestrians, too.”

There are now three lanes on South Aiken between Ellsworth and Centre avenues. The redesign will eliminate one northbound lane while maintaining dedicated left-turn lanes onto Centre in both directions and onto Baum Boulevard from northbound Liberty Avenue.

One-way protected bike lanes with plastic bollards will be added to both sides of Aiken and the section of Liberty between Centre and Baum. No parking will be eliminated, as there is no on-street parking in the area now.

The project should be completed by the end of the construction season in November, Strassburger said.

Strassburger said a dedicated left-turn lane will be eliminated along southbound Aiken onto Ellsworth. She said that should add 12 to 14 seconds, on average, for motorists trying to turn left on Ellsworth, but that delay could eventually be decreased by improved signal coordination.

Strassburger said this will become a crucial connection for cyclists, who currently lack a safe passage from Liberty Avenue to Ellsworth in Shadyside.

“This is a missing link for those who travel on Liberty,” she said.

Strassburger said traffic patterns will be monitored for at least a year following the redesign, to account for any major disruptions that might happen. She said the street redesign, along with work to replace the Negley Avenue Bridge, shows the city is committed to ensuring that congestion will not get out of hand in the neighborhood.