The Shadyside Corridor has long been an important route and connector for people on bikes, ranking high in the city’s annual bike count. Sandwiched between the heavily car oriented Fifth Ave and the Baum/Centre corridor, it provides one of the better bicycling options for an east-west connection between Oakland and points east. It is part of the overall Shadyside-Squirrel Hill Network of projects.

However, Ellsworth itself, while the most direct, intuitive and ridden, is narrow, with sporadic parking patterns that force bikes into and out of traffic, creating a chaotic and sometimes dangerous environment for all users of the roadway. Other alternatives, such as Howe, Kentucky, or Elmer are not as direct, contain lots of one-way streets that make the route confusing, and most importantly, do not connect to Neville St – the primary route to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail system that leads to the South Side and Downtown.