Entrance onto the Eliza Furnace Trail from the PennDOT Parking Lot

This image shows the entrance onto the Eliza Furnace Trail from the PennDOT parking lot. This ramp is currently being used for service vehicles to enter the Eliza Furnace Trail, as it was used to maintain the rail beds before this path was converted to a bicycle trail.

View across the PennDOT Parking Lot

As shown in this picture, there is enough room to pave a bicycle path along the back of this PennDOT parking lot. One concern raised by a PennDot representative is that if this lot were paved, drivers might use it as a park-and-ride to the bike trail. One solution would be to build a fence to partition the paved trail from the remainder of this lot to prevent drivers from parking on the bicycle trail itself.

It has been proposed that a lease agreement would need to be drawn up between the City of Pittsburgh and PennDOT for the use of this land as a bicycle path. Visible at the back of this parking lot is a ramp leading up to the Eliza Furnace Trail.

Envisioned Location of Brady Street Sidewalk

Referencing the original 1951 Brady Street relocation map, the location of the bridge supports are clearly indicated. On this plan, the location of the sidewalk was never resolved, shown here ending at a bridge support as it was built. As seen in this plan and in the above images, there is space between the bridge abutments for a ten foot wide bicycle path to be built. In this drawing, the critical bridge supports are highlighted in blue, and the edges of the proposed path are indicated in red.

Long View up Brady Street

When the bicycle path described on this page has been built, Brady Street will serve as an excellent connection between Forbes Avenue and Second Avenues for cyclists traveling from South Oakland to the Eliza Furnace Trail. Installing the needed 500 feet of bicycle path on Brady Street will help move Pittsburgh above its position as only the 28th most bikeable city in the U.S.

Foot of Brady Street onto Second Avenue

At the corner of Brady Street and Second Avenue is a parking lot owned by PennDOT, shown here to the left. The proposal is to move the Jersey barrier shown on the left and use this as the location of the bicycle path.

Bottom of Brady Street

At the lowest bridge abutment, the bicycle path would need to narrow to nine and half feet. The rest of the Brady Street bike path, however, could maintain its full ten foot width.

Also shown in this image is one of three manhole covers that were at the elevation of Brady Street before its relocation. A bicycle path in this location could not be lower than the elevation of these manhole covers.

Note the location of the Eliza Furnace Trail, shown here passing over Brady Street with fences on either side. Also note that the bridge abutments prevent a sidewalk from being built on the opposite side of the street.

Land for Sidewalk on the East Side of Brady Street #2

There is enough land for a ten foot wide bicycle path to curve to the right of the round bridge support in the middle of this picture. This route keeps cyclists safely above the Brady Street roadway.

Land for Sidewalk on the East Side of Brady Street

Although a sidewalk down Brady Street could be built by extending the bottom of the existing sidewalk, a bicycle path would be better built by curving the sidewalk earlier underneath the bridge supports. As shown below, there is enough land for a ten foot wide path. Following this route, the bridge would be more than nine feet above the path.

What is not clear from the 1951 drawings for the relocation of Brady Street is if the land under these bridge abutments is property of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), or the City of Pittsburgh. Who controls this land is an issue that will need to be resolved for this path to be built.

End of Sidewalk on Brady Street

Unfortunately, the sidewalk on the east side of Brady Street stops abruptly halfway down the street at a bridge abutment, forcing pedestrians and cyclists to walk the remaining distance to Second Avenue in high speed traffic. The 1951 plans for the relocation of Brady Street did not clearly indicate the location of the sidewalk, and this issue was never resolved. Apparently, there was insufficient planning to have the sidewalk built in the clear space behind the bridge abutments. Ironically, this redesign will place the sidewalk for Brady Street in the location that it was before Brady Street itself was relocated.

Sidewalk at the Top of Brady Street

The sidewalk at the top of Brady Street is narrow, broken, and overgrown. However, there is enough room for this sidewalk along the east side of Brady Street to be replaced and widened to ten feet, as required to make this a usable bike path.