Hundreds of Miles of New Bike Lanes Coming to Pittsburgh

"It is Earth Week and Pittsburgh is in the midst of a battle over asphalt," writes John Shumway. "Drivers want every inch they can get while the city is trying to make bicycle riders safer."

According to the article, the city of Pittsburgh is making progress on a plan that would bring the city's total of bike lanes above 250 miles. The city last year added 13 miles of bike facilities to an existing 60 miles, according to Karina Ricks, the director of mobility and infrastructure for the city, who is cited throughout the article touting the benefits of bike infrastructure.

According to Ricks, the city is preparing to add new bike lanes on Fifth Avenue, in an existing bus only lane, and on Forbes Avenue uptown. The city also recently added its first Bicycle Traffic Signal at the intersection of Penn and Stanwix.

Despite the "batle" framing in the lede, no anti-bike-lane backlash is described in the article. Ricks does discuss, however, the importance of bike lanes for post-pandemic mobility—expecting congestion to increase as more people buy more cars and stay away from public transit.