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City to Install Penn Avenue Bike Lane

Cyclists in Pittsburgh can worry about one less street when it comes to rider safety.

The city is set to install a protected bike lane Wednesday on Penn Avenue between 6th Street and 16th Street. The lane will feature a two-way cycle track with bollards separating riders from automobiles.

“We expect it to really improve the safety for those riders,” said Ngani Ndimbie, communications manager for cycling advocacy group BikePGH. “To really change the way that they experience the street and allowing them to be able to feel really comfortable on their bikes.”

The segment of Penn Avenue under construction will be closed to vehicular traffic. When the lane is finished, traffic will be one-way westbound.

City officials plan to connect the lane to the Point, Ndimbie said.

“In the future, the idea is that this lane will become a network,” Ndimbie said. “All the lanes will become a network so that riders in the city can easily get from any neighborhood to any other.”

Similar lanes in Oakland and Greenfield have already been installed.

Ndimbie said she thinks the new lanes will “encourage a lot of people to bike around and to enjoy Pittsburgh on two wheels.”

“Cycling doesn’t have to be for the particularly athletic or the particularly bold,” Ndimbie said. “Through more protected bike lanes and other bike infrastructure, more people will be willing and able to try.”