News of a traffic study to reduce pedestrian deaths in Allentown generated some back channel comments to this blog's office. If such a dog and pony show is necessary, instead of just some common sense enforcement is a valid question, but such is the way of government. Talking of local government, allow me to backtrack a few decades.
I used to live on the corner of 24th and Union Streets. Because the last previous stop sign on Union Street was by Union Terrace at St. Elmo, many cars wouldn't stop when they reached 24th, to dire consequences. I was told that a light could not be installed at that intersection because it would require interacting with the state for permission...so the carnage continues. Years later, the city installed unnecessary lights at 13th and 14th and Chew, because they had a grant from the state for extra stop lights?!?!
There are streets in Allentown that have been dangerous forever, such as East Hamilton/Hanover Ave. Lowering the speed limit and adding flashing lights shouldn't have required a special study.
Part of the proposed study deals with bicycle lanes. When they put those bike stencils on narrow Martin Luther King, west of Schreiber's Bridge, I snickered... talk about an attractive nuisance...that road is barely wide enough for passing cars. In real Allentown you have teenagers doing bike wheelies in the middle of Tilghman Street.
Please excuse guns in the title and artwork, I keep confusing these studies with reality.
artwork by Allentown native Mark Beyer
Hey MM, I was searching YouTube for material on bike infrastructure Allentown and happened upon this great video hope you enjoy it!
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/3lB4LKryQUY?si=qliM2WfOqeUr8Vex
The small segment of MLK between St. Elmo and Schreiber's Bridge certainly warrants bicycle lane enhancements because of the critical link for bicyclists from central and west Allentown to the Little Lehigh Parkway via Union Terrace. Plus, the vehicle speeds on MLK are excessive, creating an even greater need for safe bicycling signs and lanes. I bike that short segment all the time.
ReplyDeleteYes, bike lanes will be everywhere and they will very likely removed already hard to find on street parking and eliminate traffic lanes. Several years ago west enders drew up plans to put a bike lane from their west end to the downtown. If I remember correctly, their original plan called for removing on street parking from one side of Turner street and replace it with a bike lane. These same people where truly shocked there was opposition. At a public meeting I told the leader of this group exactly what I thought;" this is the stupidest idea I have ever heard". After similar sentiments were expressed they modified their plan to be less intrusive, but by that point trust was gone and we were fed up the the whole idea. Eventually, painted bike lanes were painted on Turner and Linden. These were ignored by drivers and no bikes were ever seen using them. They eventually, for the most part disappeared. Bike lanes and traffic calming are the foolish dreams of elites that cause nothing but headaches to average people who use the roads to get to work and do their chores. If Matt wants us to be kind he should first set the example. Stop doing pursuing plans that are unkind to average residents. Leave the streets alone, instead untie the hands of law enforcement to ensure public safety on our streets. That would be a good start for kindness. Scott Armstrong
ReplyDeleteThat conceptual plan called for removing one lane of traffic from Turner St (not a terrible idea if you want to slow people down) not a lane of parking. Bike lanes were never painted anywhere on Turner or Linden, “sharrows” were painted which essentially do nothing.
DeleteWhen bicyclists have to get an operators license, and tested to prove they know the rules of the road, get their bicycles inspected and pay for tags (motorcyclists do), and carry liability insurance, then we can discuss things like bike lanes.
ReplyDeleteI agree 2:24... when they have license plates nailed on their butts and can keep up with traffic, have at it!!! I'm also annoyed that when it rains the bicycle motifs shine brightly, the lane delineations, NOT SO MUCH! We have paint/time/manpower to paint stupid motifs on our roads for the few but can't paint lines for the people that pay for it via our taxes and fees.
ReplyDeleteALSO, those ridiculous bump outs... it makes turns difficult for cars and near impossible for a truck of any size AND, IMHO, places the pedestrian at a greater risk of being run over... or maybe that's just another part of the population reduction the elites are trying to accomplish....