Oakland Upheaval: Bike Lanes Arriving, Vehicular Lanes Leaving

PITTSBURGH, PA - Howard Winkelbauer isn’t your typical Carnegie Mellon University student. In his 70s, he is enrolled in CMU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and commutes to class from his Homestead residence.

As someone who drives to and from to the university, you might think he’d be irked over a radical plan to reduce the number of vehicular traffic lanes on Forbes Avenue around CMU, primarily to add two bike lanes and theoretically improve safety. But he favors the coming change.

“We need those bike lanes to keep the people on bikes safe,” Winkelbauer said on his way to class Wednesday. “The people who drive (on Forbes) always go too fast and they’re always looking at the phones instead of the road.”

Winkelbauer might be in the minority of motorists who regularly travel through Oakland in that belief. Given the consistent traffic congestion through the city’s university and medical hub, many probably find absurd the idea of reducing the number of through lanes on any neighborhood street.

The Forbes-Fifth avenues corridor from Downtown through Oakland often is a nightmare to navigate for drivers and bicyclists alike.

TRIP, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit organization that researches and evaluates transportation issues, performed a study that would dispute Winkelbauer's notion that speeding is a major issue in Oakland. In fact, TRIP has estimated that traveling through the frequent bumper-to-bumper delays costs rush hour drivers each 142 hours and 61 extra gallons of gas annually.

But that doesn't mean bicyclists travel through the corridor without risk. The city last year removed parking spaces to install bike lanes on Forbes between Bigelow Boulevard and South Craig Street - the section of Forbes where University of Pittsburgh professor Susan Hicks, 34, was killed in 2015 while bicycling home from work.

The myriad of transportation issues in Oakland prompted planners to develop the Forbes Avenue Betterment Project, a collaborative effort of, among others, PennDOT, the city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh and the Oakland Transportation Management Association.

Years in the making, the project is now underway and involves road resurfacing, traffic signal upgrades, pedestrian and bike improvements from Forbes at Bates Street near the Birmingham Bridge to Margaret Morrison Street on the CMU campus.

But it likely won’t improve travel times along a half-mile stretch of Forbes between South Craig Street and Margaret Morrison.

The existing four vehicle lanes along that portion of Forbes, which goes past the both the main entrance to CMU and its Tepper Quadrangle currently under construction, will be cut to two through lanes. The new configuration will allow for the addition of a turning lane and two bike lanes.

PennDOT District 11 traffic engineer Todd Kravits said this type of reconfiguration, known as a `road diet’ reduces overall crashes by 47 percent and allows for the addition of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.

“We’re excited to see this proven strategy implemented along the Forbes Avenue corridor,” he said. “By converting the existing four lane roadway, we can actually enhance safety, mobility and access for all road users while creating a ‘complete streets’ environment that accommodates the pedestrians, cyclists and transit users along this portion of Forbes Avenue.”

There is considerable support for the project on the CMU campus, where bike racks were nearly full even on a brisk March afternoon.

“I definitely think it’s a good idea to add the bike lanes and I like that they’re going to make it safer for pedestrians,” said Jarrek Holmes, a sophomore information sciences major who has a 10-minute walk to the university from his Oakland apartment.

The university presumably agrees, as it's a partner in the project. But CMU officials did not respond to repeated requests by Patch for comment last week.

Whether the coming changes are embraced by motorists about to be squeezed into less space on Forbes Avenue remains to be seen. No matter what changes ultimately are made, Winkelbauer said anyone driving through Oakland should resign themselves to a miserable trip.

“I moved to Pittsburgh more than half a century ago and traffic was a mess around the universities then,” he said. “Nothing has changed. Nothing ever changes.”

Photos: Eric Heyl/Patch staff.