Reply to Pittsburgh airport...taking Montour to Clairton and wondering...

Am wondering if instead of taking the connector north through Glassport to get on the trail, we can go south via Elizabeth? Has anyone on this forum done that? Pros/cons?

It is an interesting question you raise. I assume you are simply looking to not “backtrack” to the north to get to the GAP and save a few miles. Although I ride the Montour Trail and Steel Valley Connector through Glassport regularly as well as the GAP Trail from Pittsburgh to DC and many of the other roads in this area, I’ve not attempted to directly ride “cross country” from the end of the Montour Trail in Clairton to the GAP.

I have ridden from the end of the Montour Trail in Clairton to the GAP in West Newton via Route 837 and Route 136 through Monongahela PA. These are 2-lane highways/roads that generally have 3-ft shoulders and a modest amount of traffic at 45 to 50 mph speeds. This route is about 23.5 miles long with a couple of decent hills, especially on Route 136 where it goes up and over Route 51.

There are other routes that I have plotted out of curiosity from the end of the Montour Trail in Clairton to Sutersville on the GAP via Elizabeth. They are about 12 miles in length and rather hilly given they pass from one river valley (the Monongahela) up and over to another (the Youghiogheny) along which the GAP Trail runs. Getting across the bridge in Elizabeth is a little dodgy but doable on the sidewalk once you get to it. I’ll finish creating these routes and post them publicly on RideWithGPS so you can see them. In a few days, I’ll ride one or more of these alternate routes and provide feedback if other riders have not already done so.

The primary constraint in finding routes from the Montour Trail to the GAP is that there are relatively few and widely separated bridges to cross the Monongahela River. Also the terrain, like much of that in and around the Pittsburgh area, can be rather hilly (not to mention the crappy, winding roads). (That’s another benefit to living in Western Pennsylvania ??) A good bike computer loaded with any selected routes in this area would be very helpful in trying to navigate them if you are not familiar with the area.

Check back in a day or two and I’ll provide information on how to access the routes with profiles that I’ve created and/or ridden. Hopefully other riders in the area can provide other answers to your question as well.

I've created a handful of different routes to take you from the Clairton trailhead at the end of the Montour Trail to the GAP Trail. You can see all these routes at the RideWithGPS website using the FIND tab therein and inputting the search keywords "Clairton to the GAP Trail" which is used in those saved route titles.

I have ridden the conventional route using the Steel Valley Connector Trail to McKeesport many times as well as Alternatives 2 and 3 which take you to the GAP in West Newton, PA.

Alternates 1 and 4 take you from Clairton to the GAP at Sutersville and Alternates 5 and 6 take you from Clairton to the GAP at Buena Vista. I have only ridden portions of these four routes. By viewing these routes you can see the profiles and by changing to the satellite view for each route, you can get a sense of the roads comprising them. As I mentioned, I'll try to get out and ride one or more of these to get first hand information and provide that feedback.

I rode the route of Alternate 6 in RideWithgGPS from the Montour trailhead in Clairton to Buena Vista today. It is a 9.5 mile route with 578 feet of ascent. This compares to the conventional route from that trailhead to the same location on the GAP in Buena Vista via the Steel Valley Connector of 16.5 miles with 539 feet of ascent.

The conventional route is about one-half on roads and the remaining half on bike-only gravel trail. The alternate route is all on roads, albeit with reasonable shoulders over most of their length and carry a fair amount of traffic at 30 to 50 mph. All the roads are 2-lane.

Lincoln Blvd traffic carries the higher speed traffic but is pretty straight with good sightlines for both cyclists and cars. The traffic on Lovedale Road is slower because it is much more curvy with shorter sightlines. Also its shoulder has several spots of broken asphalt to be avoided. Rock Run Road carries much less traffic and is pristine asphalt with a 3-ft shoulder passing by a very nice golf course and is nearly all downhill. In short, if you have ridden on all sorts of roads and are comfortable doing so, this alternate route will save you about 7 miles.

Please note that I don't recommend any route toward Elizabeth such as Alternate 1 to cross the Monongahela River using the Elizabeth Bridge in State Road 51. Getting up to that bridge from State Road 837 is subtly difficult and/or dangerous and riding any distance on State Road 51 is ill advised.

Lastly, note that you could take a public transportation bus from the airport to downtown Pittsburgh to start your trip at the beginning of the GAP trail and avoid virtually all roads. All these buses have bike racks on the front of the bus that will hold two bikes. You would need to remove your bags from your bikes before putting them on the bus.