Bike and pedestrian path in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville completed
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The Hatfield Connector, the final portion of the Central Lawrenceville Neighborway, has been completed in under three months.
City officials announced Tuesday that the shared-use pedestrian and bike path closes a gap between 50th and 51st streets.
Neighborways are low-traffic streets built for walkers, cyclists and other non-vehicular traffic, according to the city.
This particular portion of the bike network runs between Central Lawrenceville from 40th and Willow Streets and Upper Lawrenceville and Stanton Heights.
The plan to build the connector was hatched in 2019, with a goal of creating a route that’s comfortable for a wider variety of cyclists by avoiding high-vehicle traffic areas, according to Eric Setzler of the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.
“The connection is only one block long, but we think it’s really important because it helps to create a continuous bicycle route through Lawrenceville that does not use Butler Street,” Setzler said. “It now gets you all the way up to McCandless Avenue.”
Lauren Byrne Connelly, executive director for the Lawrenceville Corporation, said it was exciting to see the plan come together.
“The neighborway … provides a critical connection for pedestrians, bicyclists and others looking for safe and accessible routes to and through the Lawrenceville community,” she said.
The construction includes a long tree pit on 51st Street and sodding of the adjacent land. The city also is installing bollards, railings, signage and planting more trees.
Setzler said there are more extensive plans in the works for bicycling enthusiasts in Lawrenceville.
“We are working on a project to provide a connection down under the 40th Street Bridge, which would be really great because that would provide another way to bike through Lawrenceville without taking Butler Street,” he said.