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'Bike Anywhere Week' Promotes Safe Cycling In Pittsburgh, As Ridership Increases

Allyson Ruggieri
/
90.5 WESA

National Bike to Work Week gets in gear starting today. Bike riding in Pittsburgh is on the rise — it increased 19% in 2020 according to the analytics company Streetlight Data — so BikePGH will host a series of daily events to help riders understand bike safety and how to advocate for a bike-friendly city.

Bike Anywhere Week includes a virtual Q&A with BikePGH staff, as well as a bike light giveaway and sessions on how to share the road with motor vehicles.

According to PennDOT data, there were more than 2,000 pedestrian accidents and nearly 400 bicycles crashes in the state between 2016 to 2020. Eighty-three of the crashes were fatal.

Alex Shewczyk, marketing and communications director at BikePGH, said many of Bike Anywhere Week’s programs are designed to help bikers create safer streets and reduce crashes between cyclists and vehicles.

“There's some great bike infrastructure, but there's some places where cyclists are left to navigate for themselves and share the roads with cars,” Shewczyk said.

I am a senior at Clarion University studying Integrated Journalism. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and enjoy covering Pittsburgh-related news.