A Pyrrhic victory, Britannica reminds us, is “a success that brings such significant harm to the victor that it differs little from defeat.”
“Although the triumphant party in a Pyrrhic victory is considered the overall winner, the costs incurred and their future repercussions diminish the sense of genuine success. It is sometimes known as a hollow victory,” says the online encyclopedia from Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Surely, this is the case with the “compromise” Strip District merchants along Penn Avenue reached with the City of Pittsburgh last week over a new traffic “calming” feature along the busy one-way stretch of urban funkiness.
As the Tribune-Review reported the deal:
“The Strip District Business Association on Thursday struck a reluctant compromise with the City of Pittsburgh on plans to convert a portion of Penn Avenue to a one-lane road with a bike lane.
“The city initially wanted to add a protected bike lane — one with a barrier separating cyclists from cars — to a stretch of Penn Avenue … between 22nd and 31st streets. The road, which now has two travel lanes, would be reduced to a single lane for vehicles.
“The business group sued the city, arguing the change could cause gridlock and leave little space for fire trucks and ambulances to get through,” a violation of the international fire code to which the city adheres.
The compromise eliminates the physical barriers between the bike lane and parked cars, which will allow for sufficient emergency vehicle passage. That, while preserving parking on both sides of the busy street.
But it still reduces the travel lanes from two to one. And that remains a bone of contention for many Penn Avenue merchants, fearing that gridlock and new challenges for delivery vehicles. At least one business owner told the Trib that the legal challenges might not be over.
Here’s where we employ the proverbial “time will tell” line. But the fact that the city first ran roughshod over Penn Avenue merchants instead of first better exploring all options with Strip District businesses has left a bitter taste and great distrust.
And this bottom line remains: Introducing a bike lane on this already incredibly busy stretch of Penn Avenue and, most assuredly, leading to greater congestion and with it, is a dangerous new public safety threat that should have been a nonstarter.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
