The story of Beechwood Boulevard: A Trip Along Pittsburgh's Most Convoluted Street

At its southern terminus, Beechwood Boulevard looks like any other street in the City of Pittsburgh. Behind me to the left if the Greenfield Bridge which spans I-376 connecting the Greenfield neighborhood to Schenley Park.

Loooking east on Beechwood Blvd. from it's southern terminus at Ronald St. in Greenfield.

 

Originally, Beechwood Boulevard and Washington Boulevard were intended as a scenic route between Schenley Park, Frick Park, and Highland Park. Washington Boulevard ended up becoming one of Pittsburgh's worst roads for cyclists and pedestrians, while most of Beechwood Boulevard remains quite attractive for people walking and riding bikes.

The section of Beechwood Boulevard between Ronald Street and and Monitor St.* became a disaster when the Parkway was build in the 1950s. A very confusing set of highway ramps and lane changes make this section pretty much off-limits to cyclists. I walked my bike on the sidewalk through this section.

Squirrel Hill-Homestead interchange between I-376 and Beechwood Blvd.

Just past this death-trap, Beechwood Boulevard goes under the Murray Avenue Bridge, which is seen it the above photograph, prior to turning to the south. After the turn, Beechwood Boulevard intersects Monitor Street for the first time.

Continuing south, Beechwood Boulevard intersects Welfer St. and becomes asymmetrical with two traffic lanes southbound and one lane northbound. At Lilac Street, we encounter our first traffic light.

Looking south on Beechwood Blvd. from Lilac St.

 

After continuing south for another three blocks, we encounter the five-way intersection of Beechwood Boulevard, Hazelwood Avenue, and Brown's Hill Road.

At this Intersection, Beechwood Boulevard makes a 45 degree turn to the left with Brown's Hill Road straight ahead and Hazelwood Avenue crossing at a 90 degree angle. The turn is prohibited between 6AM and 9AM as well as between 3PM and 6PM. After getting past this intersection, we start to see some sharrows painted in the travel lanes. there are also wide shoulders available when there are no cars parked in them.

Sharrows and shoulders on Beechwood Boulevard.

After about 3/5 of a mile, We start to see bike lanes.

These bike lanes will be with us for the rest of the trip, so I get on my bike. After many twists and turns, Beechwood Boulevard intersects Monitor Street once again.

and again!

At the third intersection with Monitor Street, Beechwood Boulevard turns to the left prior to encountering the third traffic light at Forward Avenue. After passing the Blue Slide Playground in Frick Park, Beechwood Boulevard crosses Philips Ave. at the fourth traffic light. Beechwood Boulevard once again goes through several twists and turns as it passes the Frick Park Environmental Center. and winds down the hill toward Dallas Ave. Make sure to stop at the stop sign because traffic coming the other way doesn't stop and quite a lot of traffic turns left here. After another climb, we reach Forbes Ave. After getting through the traffic light at Forbes Ave, there is one last small climb before the final descent to Fifth Ave.

The final descent

After two more traffic lights, we are hitting the home stretch before arriving at Fifth Avenue.

Northern terminus of Beechwood Blvd. at Fifth Ave.

After the five mile journey, It's time to call it a day.

Four more bikes cleaned and tuned up

Since it has been a while since I posted, I thought I'd post about the four bikes I got cleaned and fixed up.

Old Murray bike from 1940s or 1950s before cleaning.

This Murray took me the longest to clean. I believe this bike was made in the 1950s or 1940s and it is very heavy. I scrubbed the crusty old tires and seat with Tuff Stuff and Scotch Bright pads. I washed the frame with Dawn and water to remove the loose dust and grease. The rims and fenders were cleaned with aluminum foil to remove most of the rust. The rims were also cleaned using a toothbrush and Bar Keeper's Friend before remounting the tires. I sprayed the whole bike with wax since it has a coaster break in the rear wheel.

After cleaning.

After I was finnished with the Murray, I started working on this Mongoose Threshold from the 1990s.

1990s Mongoose Threshold.

This bike needed to be cleaned and the breaks needed aligned. First, I cleaned the frame, handle bars, and fork with Tuff Stuff. Next, I removed the wheels and scrubbed the tires with Tuff Stuff and a brush. After that, I waxed the tires and frame, Lastly, I sanded the rims and brake pads with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the wax prior to re-installing the wheels.

After cleaning.

Since It's late and need to go to bed, I will follow up with the last two tomorrow.

Self-entitled motorists really get on my nerves!

Yesterday, I was riding home from Towne Drugs and someone in a black SUV yelled at me saying I should be on the sidewalk. It was on Western Ave. between 3rd S. and 4th St. As annoying to cyclists as they are, there is a reason for having stop signs at every intersection. Their purpose is to discourage through traffic. This self-entitled motorist was clearly through traffic. He drive the entire length of Western Ave. just to turn right onto 5th St. and left onto Center Ave. I yelled, "Why don't you stay on f***ing Freeport Rd.! another block!" As far as I know, there is only one stop sign in one direction the entire length of Freeport Rd. which is about 20 miles, while Western Ave. has four stop signs in both directions. The whole street is 1/4 mile long. Why do these imbeciles insist on cutting through a neighborhood with narrow, stop sign filled streets so they can endanger myself and my neighbors. If he was in such a hurry, he should have stayed on Freeport Rd., one more block and turning left directly onto Center Ave. Parking is banned on the western side of Center Ave. so there is more room to maneuver around cyclists. We seriously need more enforcement of this stuff as well as education so the people will stop harassing other people who are fulfilling their transportation needs.

Bike Pictures

Here are some pictures of my bike as well as another bike I was working on at Kraynick's today.

First, My bike. Isn't she sexy? She is a custom bike with Cannondale aluminum frame and steel fork and crankset from an old Raleigh Technium. The paint has been stripped from the frame and fork. The fork has been spraypainted with black gloss automotive enamel and the frame was sanded and polished.

Entire bike shot.

Close up of the saddle, rear brake, rear tire, seat tube and seat stay.

Close up of the handlebars and top tube.

 Close up of the crankset, rear wheel, derailleurs, and down tube.

Next, the Chrome stainless steel Diamondback that I cleaned up today.

Entire bike shot.

Both bikes together.

I think both of these bikes are beautiful, but I am biased toward the one on the right because I built it. Personally, I never thought aluminum can be as shiny chrome stainless steel. Can you tell the difference?

I polished it up!

Today, I got done polishing my aluminum bike. It really looks awesome!

Two accedents in one week

Unfortunately, I was hit by a car two Saturdays ago as I was on my way to Hazelwood from Kraynick's. I did not really get hurt from this incident. Last Friday, I crash-landed on Freeport Rd. at Lexington Ave. This really hurt as I severely sprained my right foot and left shoulder. I went to the emergency room to days later, and they confirmed that no bones were fractured or broken. There was no organ damage, and I am over 90% heeled.

My Beautiful New Bike

Today, I finished putting this beauty together.

I used an old Cannondale aluminum road bike frame. The crankset, derailleurs, shifters, peddles, stem, headset, seat, and seat post are from an old Raleigh that one of the chainstays was cracked. The handlebars are a used pair of flat bars from the shop. The fork is original to the Cannondale frame. The brake levers, chain, wheels, and tires are all new.

Cannondale frame.

First, I tried to burn the paint off of the frame with a propane torch, but that did not work as you can see in this video.

Since I was unable to burn off the paint, I decided to sand it all off with sixty grit sandpaper. When I was done sanding, I took the fork home and used paint stripper to remove the gray paint from it. Since the fork is made of steel, I used black Rust-Oleum Automotive Enamel gloss spray paint to paint it. 

I continued to sand the bare aluminum with finer and finer sandpaper up to 500 grit and gave it a final cleaning with Bar Keeper's Friend.

Frame after sanding.

After all the cleaning was done, Rocky installed the bottom bracket and crankset from the old Raleigh. Carl and I installed the derailleurs, shifters, brakes, and associated cables. Today, Daniel, Rocky and I got everything finalized, and I paid for the parts.

It turned out that the aluminum color with black are a very nice color combination. I also like that I do not have to shift it as much as my Fuji hybrid that I have been riding for the past several several months. It is also a lot lighter as I can grab it with one hand and carry it up the city steps in Morningside on my way to the shop instead of wrestling the Fuji with both hands. I think it is very beautiful and am starting to become emotionally attached to it.

A very beautiful bike it is!

The Steps of Morningside.

Pittsburgh has the most public staircases of any city in the United States. The original purpose of these steps was so that factory workers could walk from their home up on the hill to their job in the river valley. As the steel mills closed and more people had cars, many of these staircases have developed cracks in their steps and weed start growing from the cracks and encroach on the public right of way. Today, I took some photographs of four staircases in Morningside.

Adelphia St.

Looking up the Adelphia St. Steps.

These well-maintained wooden steps actually serve as the street that the two houses at the top are on. Take note of the street sign on the telephone pole at the bottom.

looking down the Adelphia St. Steps.

Houses located on the steps.

Martha St.

Oh, do these steps come in handy. The Martha St. steps start out as a jumpwalk on the northern edge of Martha St. at Morningside Ave. Upon crossing Duffield St., the road disappears, but the steps continue up the hill to El Paso St. in Stanton Heights where the road reappears. Martha St. continues one more block to Trinity St. These steps link northeastern Stanton Heights with Morningside and provide pedestrian access to bus service on Jancey St. and Chislett St. as well as the Morningside business bistrict.

 

 

 

 

Near the bottom of the Martha St. steps.

Looking across Duffield St.

 

 

Looking down the steps.

Gallatin St.

The Gallatin St. steps provide residents near Witherspoon St. access to bus stops located on Baker St. The steps also provide lower Morningside residents pedestrian access to the Morningside business district.

Bottom of Gallatin St. steps showing a bus stop.

Top of Gallatin St. Steps at Witherspoon St.

Jancey St.

Looking across the Allegheny River into Sharpsburg.

This house is only accessible from the Jancey St. steps.

Just restored another Schwinn

Before 

This Schwinn took a while as I had to do some major cleaning on the wheels and other bare metal parts. Once the wheels were clean, I used Scrubbing Bubbles to clean as much dirt off of the frame. This bike did not have brake cables or levers, so I had to install them myself. I replaced the tires and the derailleur  cable housings so they matched the housings on the brake cable. After it was reassembled, Carl and I adjusted the derailleurs so that the shifting worked properly. Today, I took it for a ride. It was a bit awkward riding such a tall bike, but I managed to get some good pictures of it.

After

Massive cleaning project

Over the last week, I was working on this rusty Schwinn. I was able to remove most of the rust using various methods. First, I made a paste from Bar Keeper's Friend and water and applied it to the rims and spokes. after some scrubbing, I wiped it off with a rag and rinsed it with a solution of Dawn dish soap and water. I also tried CLR on the chain rings to remove most of the rust. As a last resort, I sanded off the really stubborn rust before using CLR and a Scotch Bright pad to remove the remaining rust and shine things up a little.

I cleaned the entire bike including the drive train, wheels, and tires using Scrubbing Bubbles before re-assembling the bike. Finally, after pumping up the tires, I gave the entire bike a wipe down with wax trying to avoid the rims. Here are some before and after photographs.

Before:

After:

Antique traffic lights

I have noticed that the old traffic lights in Pittsburgh are being phased out and replaced with the ultra-modren, black traffic lights that are found throughout the suburbs. Here is an example of one of the old traffic lights that is still operating at the intersection of Butler St. and McCandless Ave.in Lawrenceville. Take note of the curved gantry that the signal hangs from. and the yellow graffiti-covered controller box on the pole that also used to hold up the overhead cables for the streetcars that used to operate along Butler St.

 Sometimes, the signals are just hanging from the wires that power them as these signals below. They are located at the same intersection as in the previous photograph.

One thing to note is the lack of dedicated pedestrian signals.

I think an effort should be made to preserve any of these traffic lights that are still functioning as of today. It is possible to retrofit the old signals with LED light bulbs and new controllers like those used with the SURTRAC system used in other East End neighborhoods. New pedestrian signals and buttons should be used to replace the smaller 3-way signals pointed at the crosswalks.