Another Pittsburgh rider checking in. I'm often riding along the McKeesport-Pgh section, in fact last week I rode that route twice. I'd like to echo Spinnaker's good offer, if you need an escort from Pgh-BostonPA, let me know -
vbush90@gmail.com
I've ridden DC-Pgh and PGh-DC a few times. Here's what I can tell you about right now today, and probably a fair estimate of late April to mid-May. The GAP will be soft in the spring.
When you get to Boston, PA, the scenic packed limestone ends, and the last 24-ish miles to Pittsburgh are (generally) paved and urban. There's a few stretches that aren't very well marked, but they are marked and the websites (atatrail.org) generally have good descriptions. Two thoughts: if you have a GPS, download a track from somebody who's been there; if you get disoriented, just Stop. Generally, a local bicyclist will pass by and help. We've been guiding a lot of touring riders between McKeesport and Pgh.
The towns between McKeesport and halfway to Pgh are post-industrial steel towns. McKeesport, Duquesne, Whittaker, Homestead - they're tough places, a lot of poverty, not take-a-picture towns. I've never had a problem there in daylight, and I don't think we've ever heard of a bicyclist on the route having a problem - and I've been paying attention since 94. So you pass through dingy poor towns, stay on the route and be intelligent and we don't see problems.
In McKeesport you ride a bit of trail and then a bit of street to the Marina, then it's back on the street past the newspaper and back onto a trail. It is marked, it's not marked very well, and if you get puzzled you should just ask directions.
From there you join paved and fenced trail, you cross the Mon River, and it's a very nice paved trail north past an amusement part (Kennywood) and up to a development called the Waterfront in Homestead. The Waterfront has hotels on the trail, all sorts of stores, you'd think you were in Northern Virginia. Up until now, most people stopped riding in Homestead - but this year, IMHO more people will be going to Pittsburgh proper.
From the Waterfront you're going to ride on bike-lane sidewalks up to a waterpark, Sandcastle. Right now they're building the trail between Sandcastle's roadway and the railroad, it's going to be excellent. They are actively moving stuff and building and it's very exciting.
This is a 5-day old photo of the work at Sandcastle, they're moving all the light poles to make space for the trail and the road:
After Sandcastle, in previous years we broke the law and walked our bikes along the railroad tracks behind Keystone Metals. Right now, they're building a tremendous elevated trail segment along Keystone Metals, and that takes you beyond the "GAP in the G-a-P" and you're back on Easy Street.
This is a 5-day old photo of the new trail being built at Keystone Metals, the poles will support a wall separating the trail from the recycling yard:
You ride the paved Baldwin Borough Trail to another new development, SouthSideWorks. There's two hotels, restaurants, and an REI. There's also the Hot Metal Bridge and now you have choices.
The first point is, if you've reached the HotMetalBridge you've ridden to Pittsburgh. The bridge has it's own bike lane, go out to the middle of it, get your picture taken with the skyline behind you, and you could say: I've ridden to Pgh and then go back to your hotel at SouthSideWorks.
Option Two is to continue North on the same side of the river, up to Station Square and take the FortPitt bridge which has a walking ramp. There are two snug turns on this ramp for a bike with panniers, so maybe you go slow or stop. I do NOT think you'd want to ride a tandem across the Ft.Pitt bridge because of those two left-90-right-90 turns. Also, it is a climb to get across this bridge. After crossing the Ft.Pitt bridge, the ramp takes you down into PointStatePark which is the spiritual and visceral touchstone of Pittsburgh, take your picture at the Point and you're done, go to your downtown hotel or back over to the Station Square hotel. This image shows what that looks like:
Option Three from SouthSideWorks is to cross the HotMetalBridge and then ride the paved Eliza Furnace Trail, which Pittsburghers call the Jail Trail up to Grant Street. Although the plans call for an eventual transition with a yet-to-be-built ramp to the MonWharf (don't ask), most riders will ride on a sidewalk-trail down to Smithfield Street, and then go via the streets for about ten blocks to get to Point State Park.
The people in charge of construction at Sandcastle will be done on April15th, because they have to have their work done by that date to meet the terms of the agreement with Sandcastle. The new KeystoneMetals trail will be open sometime after that. We expect a "soft opening" when they're complete. There's a big smash planned in June, that's a padded date to allow for surprises.
For the record, right now a hundred bicyclists a day are making the unauthorized, informal kludge ride through Sandcastle's roadway and walking along the railroad tracks. I go through there once or twice a week, and I always see other cyclists doing the same thing. If you get there before the new sections are open, follow one of them through if you're so inclined.
The signage is poor in McKeesport and in the HotMetalBridge-PointStatePark corridor, but to be fair it's because they're just now getting the route finished, and they've been waiting to get the final route established to update the signage. We've been told to expect a lot of new signs/markings this summer.
And so, that's what I can tell you about riding from DC to Pgh this April-May. Again, if you get a bit uncertain as to navigation, (1)stop and ask, (2)wait for a bicyclist because there's a lot of us riding through there. And if you want somebody to ride with you, post a request on either the GAP Yahoo group or on the bike-PGH message forum and I think you'll be happy with the results.
That's the longest response I've ever written.
vbush90@gmail.com