PITTSBURGH — Bicyclists hit the road Tuesday night, riding to remember one of their own hit and killed last week on West Carson Street and to press PennDOT for safer streets.
Dennis Flanagan was
on the newly constructed West Carson Street in Pittsburgh.
“This really hit home, and we're going to fight Pittsburgh to make sure these changes are made,” Flanagan’s brother, Sean Flanagan, said.
With a police escort Tuesday evening, bicyclists rode past the accident site with messages on their backs aimed at PennDOT. They said West Carson Street needs to be reconstructed to include a designated bike lane.
“West Carson it has two 14-foot lanes and an enormous turning lane . . . like (a) 12-foot turning lane. The lanes do not have to be that wide,” said Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh.
Channel 11 News took their concerns straight to PennDOT District Executive Dan Cessna, who said there’s not enough space on the street for a bike lane. He said reports showed that a middle turning lane was needed to prevent numerous vehicle crashes.
“If you travel up and down, you can see the restrictions, the limiting factors: the hillside on one side of the highway, the railroads on the other side. There wasn't 2 feet or 4 feet more to utilize on West Carson Street,” he said.
According to PennDOT, from 2010 to 2015, there were three bike fatalities. No data was available for 2016.
Regardless, bicyclists who rode in honor of Dennis Flanagan said one more cyclist’s death is one too many.
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