When in doubt, go with old reliable.
That’s what BikePGH is doing with Sunday’s OpenStreetsPGH event, returning to a course from the Strip District to Lawrenceville that has worked well in the past. The 3.5-mile course will extend from McCaffrey Strip District Terminal in the Strip District to Butler Street and McCandless Avenue in Lawrenceville, where streets will be closed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for biking, skateboarding, running, walking and anything else that can be done on a street with no traffic.
BikePGH spokeswoman Julie Walsh said the agency often looks for new neighborhoods to include in the program, but with road construction the options were limited this month, so it is returning to a course that has been popular in the past. This course offers lots of scheduling possibilities.
“We’ve done this course before, and people really seem to like it,” she said. “There are a lot of businesses along the way, and we’re doing everything we can to get them involved, not just being open but being out on the sidewalks or with pop-ups.”
Walsh said BikePGH has reviewed safety protocols with Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Safety after an OpenStreets incident last month in which two people were injured when they were struck by a driver who deliberately went through barricades in Pittsburgh’s East End and drove on a street that was supposed to be closed.
The driver is facing a series of criminal charges for the incident.
As a result, more public safety personnel will be on duty to help keep the thousands of participants safe, Walsh said.
“We’re just taking every precaution — as we always do — to make sure we all know what to do if something happens,” Walsh said. “That’s the first time in more than 10 years that something has happened, and we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Walsh said there will be activity hubs at each end of the course, but participants can join anywhere along the way. The main streets will be closed, but there will be a series of cross streets open along the way.
In the Strip District, OpenStreets will coincide with the Women Who Rock event at the Terminal, so there will be additional free entertainment at the community hub there. Squonk’s purple hands, which are popular with children, also will be in that area.
The family hub at 52nd and Butler streets will have art projects available for kids and adults to participate in as well as bike obstacle courses and fitness classes.
Between those hubs, activities range from a blessing of the bikes at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church at 21st and Smallman streets to a sneak peek inside the Roberto Clemente Museum at 3339 Penn Ave. and bouncing on pogo sticks at Plummer and Butler streets.
“It will be busy. That’s for sure,” Walsh said.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.