Biking to South Hills Village Mall

Go past Phipps Conservatory and get onto the Blvd. of the Allies heading toward downtown. Make the first left turn possible, at Parkview Avenue, and at the stop sign take another left onto Swinburne Street. Go past the Sestili Nursery and follow the winding road until it ends at the stop sign. Turn right onto Greenfield Avenue, go to the stoplight at the bottom of the hill, and go straight, under the train tracks, and turn right onto Second Avenue.

Note: Second Avenue is an excellent route for biking downtown. It is a 4-lane, relatively low-traffic road (except during rush hour), and it is more or less completely flat. Just watch out for open gratings on the side of the road.

Take Second Avenue to the 10th Street Bridge. Cross this bridge, go past Carson Street, and turn right onto PJ McArdle Roadway. This street intersects Liberty Avenue at the mouth of the tunnel, and proceeds to the top of Mount Washington. At the top, turn left onto Grandview Avenue. After stopping at an observation deck to take in the view, go to the end of Grandview Avenue. Go right on Wyoming, and when it ends, go right on Boggs. At the bottom of the hill, turn left onto Route 51 and follow it a short distance to the stoplight, which is the other end of the Liberty Tunnel.

Turn right onto Route 19 and follow this horrible road all the way to the mall. The road is horrible because there is a lot of fast-moving traffic, because you ride through Suburban Strip-Mall Hell (a most depressing experience), and because the traffic lights are timed to keep traffic maximally slow. Shortly after you see the Galleria Mall on the right, you will pass by Borders Book Shop, which is in a shopping center called Norman Centre II. About another half mile down the road is the South Hills Village Mall.

Total distance: ???

(Thumbnail picture of Jim) Written by Jim Stichnoth / stichnot@cs.cmu.edu