I have three main routes that I use to get out of Downtown that aren’t Liberty.

1. If you’re willing to deal with traffic and hills, Penn Avenue is not that bad of another option. I usually take Penn Avenue over to Smallman Street, then cut back over to Penn and go up the hill.

2. Again, if you’re willing to deal with a little bit of a hill, but no so much traffic, I actually recommend Allegheny Cemetery. As long as you hit it early enough, the gates are open. I take the same route out of Downtown but then instead of going all the way over to Butler Street. The cemetery itself is relatively quiet and has a white line marking that takes you straight from Butler Street to Penn Avenue. There is a bit of a hill at the end, but nothing a little downshifting can’t solve.

3. Get onto the Furnace trail, which will eventually connect you to the Junction Hollow Trail, which links up to Boundary Street. Take Boundary up the hill (not too bad) to Neville, then use Ellsworth to access the East End.

IMO, out of the three, I like the Cemetery the best, it might be a little long, but it does get you into a quiet area of town, and traffic on Butler isn’t too bad (as long as you don’t get attacked by an angry driver.)

I made a map of the routes I take. https://goo.gl/2VeZ3C