The Morning Call reports that these improvements have practically put the Tilghman Street merchants out of business...From driving by, I don't question that claim. The real kicker is that they're building sidewalks along Tilghman. Who do they think is going to be walking there and why?
Truth be told, the bureaucracies don't think, they just blindly follow guidelines. Improving the button hook entrances to 309 was long overdue. Adding curbing and sidewalks to that section of Tilghman Street was superfluous. Hurting the merchants so badly was totally unnecessary.
I'm not here to be polite or popular
postcard of former Tilghman Street icon, before curbs and sidewalks
Money, from some source, somewhere, somehow, was identified and became available. A proposal was written and submitted, and so an “infrastructure”
ReplyDeleteproject was launched.
Consider the “bike lanes” painted on MLK.
Now a project that individuals up and down a funding chain can point to as a deliverable has been created.
An RFP (request for proposals) goes out. Contracts are awarded.
Work is done. Outcomes verified, ribbons cut, photos taken.
It is a tangible victory and will be highlighted as such.
Thank you for your service.
Forward.
Those aren’t stencils on MLK, sir, that’s a bike bath connecting the underserved communities of Center City to the West End.
ReplyDeleteThe transportation infrastructure has been improved, the park system joined.
Just what those in the West End need.... or not.
Deleteanon@5:47: I know that your tongue is deeply in your cheek, but the phrase underserved communities is appearing more and more in both park and Parknership literature. While the Boy's Club, the YMCA, PAL etc., all had most worthwhile missions, I wonder how far the Park Department can stretch itself and still maintain those features for which Allentown was so well known.
ReplyDelete“Underserved” is a euphemism for a number of more vexing, less politically correct, terms.
DeleteFor a stripped down definition consider the socio-economic data of the ASD.
anon@8:58: Yes, it is a deep well that only can get deeper, because of the most needy seem to be the most transient.
DeleteLast time I was in the area, it seemed that Tilghman Street was also being widened to about a football field from shoulder to shoulder.
ReplyDeleteWhile that’s a bit of an exaggeration, one has to wonder how those walking on the sidewalks will ever be able to cross the street. Will traffic be paused for five minutes while someone crosses? How long will it take old ladies or young school children to cross?
So not only have they currently built sidewalks to nowhere, one day someone will realize that they’re also sidewalks to certain death when the lights change when someone is only halfway across.
I suppose that “walkability” will be addressed at a later date, and government can once again solve a problem it created.
I agree Tilghman St is being over engineered. The new 5-6 lane road will become a speedway that will be very tough for people to cross safely. That said, I do see pedestrians in the area walking and waiting for the bus so sidewalks are not inappropriate, especially now that the area is so built up. The property owners probably should have been required to install sidewalks as their properties were developed to be fair. Now we get to pay.
ReplyDeleteThe Tilghman Street interchange with 309 goes back to the 1950s when the 309 bypass was first built. I avoid it when I'm visiting Allentown as it's dangerous at best. Coming in from the west on the thruway, I will go south on the 78 bypass and get off at Hamilton Boulevard.
ReplyDeleteI suspect there is an unannounced development of some type being planned for the Tilghman Street extension.
That or someone with money burning a hole in their pockets decided to put sidewalks in where they haven't been for the past 70 some years since Tilghman Street was widened back in the 1950s.
This is likely a federal mandate to ensure that transportation improvements incorporate not just improvements to the roads but related improvements to serve pedestrians and bicyclists. Its conceivable to me that someone living in the residential areas on the east side of 309 might want to walk the .25 mile distance along segments of existing sidewalk - through the 309 interchange - to the new sidewalk in front of the Hamilton Animal Care building to get to Red Robin, Josh Early or PJ Whelihans for work or to patronize those businesses. Good for them, it would be beneficial exercise and more sustainable. Once at those destinations, now they can safely walk on existing sidewalks to basically all the businesses at Tilghman Square as well as the St. Lukes and OAA complexes. I think its good policy to link these existing sidewalks up as they are re-constructing the 309 interchange. Why should it be an inaccessible barrier to local people who choose to walk?
ReplyDeleteVery logical argument. In many states, if a property is developed for anything other than agriculture, sidewalks are required whether they lead anywhere right now or not. With this policy you never end up with sidewalk gaps in newer communities because they are required from day one.
Delete7:15 - You bring up another pet peeve of mine - the location of many LANTA bus stops.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that LANTA needs to rethink the location of many of their bus stops, since they are often dangerous traffic hazards or on roadways that do not lend themselves to bus stops. The Tilghman stops you refer to might be among those, but certainly the stop on Hamilton near Dorney Park should be moved as they only encourage pedestrians on a road not built for pedestrians.
All summer, I see people crossing the street mid-block on Hamilton, often dragging small children and often in the dark. It is only a matter of time before someone - or some family - is killed there.
This is not even taking into account a large bus slowing, blocking, and entering into traffic on major roadways, and the danger that poses to other vehicles.
LANTA is largely publicly funded by multiple layers of government. If they’re not going to act responsibly as far as where they place their stops, maybe it’s time to lobby our elected officials to cut them off.
It would not be the first death there.
DeleteWhere do you want people to go? Do you prefer they walk a mile along a road with no pedestrian accommodations to the next bus stop? You can’t wish pedestrians away. Some people don’t have cars and still need to get around.
DeleteMaybe your gripe is with Cedar Fair LP as they could put up some money to build a underground pedestrian connection or a pedestrian bridge to allow their employees safe access to the LANTA stop. If Cedar Fair LP took the lead, I bet other sources of funding might come through to address this major safety hazard.
Delete6:54 - Move the bus stops off highways like Tilghman and Hamilton Boulevard. Put them on side streets where bus riders are safer and the bus isn’t impeding traffic when they stop/pull out.
DeleteAs far as Cedar Fair, that isn’t even a park entrance there, other than for people dropping off/picking up and for tour buses going to the park to avoid the narrow lanes of the toll booths at the regular entrance.
If Dorney wants to add an internal stop, by all means add it. If not, put the stop down on Lincoln Avenue (towards Cedarbrook Road). Either way, remover the stops on the shoulder on that stretch of Hamilton.
Those sidewalks to nowhere have nothing on the curb-cuts to nowhere on Cedar Crest. Not only are there no sidewalks there, but in a lot of places, there aren’t even curbs to cut into. In the West End, perfectly useful (or useless as the case may be) curb cuts constructed in the 1990s were recently reconstructed, presumably to meet some new ADA standard, even though in over 30 years I’ve never seen a disabled person ever use the old ones. I don’t know what the new standards are, but they seem pretty arbitrary with some of the corners having enough concrete for a small helipad while others only go in one direction. I don’t know how forcing someone to go into both streets at an intersection is considered to be safer than the old curb cuts that had been there. A perfect boondoggle pleasing the construction trades, big-government proponents, and ADA activists, but providing very little true benefit, all at a substantial cost to the tax payers.
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:47 said: “Why should it be an inaccessible barrier to local people who choose to walk?”
ReplyDeleteTwo words: Common Sense.
Even with sidewalks, you will be inviting pedestrians to cross and interact with vehicles (some traveling at high rates of speed) at multiple places. Vehicles using those on and off ramps won’t be looking for someone crossing those ramps.
When you put in the sidewalks, you are inviting all pedestrians - the very young, the very old, and the very stupid. That .25 mile walk may be the one that actually shortens life expectancies, instead of extending them.
Sidewalks or not, I would say safety (and common sense) should come first. If you want to go to Whelihan’s or Tilghman Square, take your car or get a ride there. Then walk all you want once you’re safely out of the parking lots.
Not everyone has a car or access to one every day of their life. People still need to get around and have a God given right to walk from point A to point B, even if it requires you to slow down your Oldsmobile once in a while. Not a big deal.
DeleteI disagree, pedestrians [and bicyclists] pay taxes too and it wouldn't be the end of the world if a motorist had to yield to pedestrians in the cross walk occasionally. The motorist has the responsibility to obey traffic laws and would be aware of the upcoming pedestrian crossing. Moving forward, you can expect less and less Americans to use cars as their primary means of transport and it may require ever so slightly more cautious and law abiding driving. No big deal. You might view walking as hazardous, but its great for you.
Delete7 am and 7:04 - You must be vacationing in Disney World, because you're obviously in Fantasyland. A few points:
Delete1) You don't have a "God given right to walk from point A to point B...". Using your logic, a person who chooses to buy a farm in the most rural area of the country is entitled to a sidewalk to wherever they want to go.
2) Here in Realville, accidents happen. One of the best ways to prevent them is to not make stupid decisions that increase the interaction of pedestrians and motor vehicles at dangerous spots. Adding sidewalks at the intersection of a major highway does that. It's a numbers game, and you're adding to the number of close interactions between people and vehicles.
3) Yes, people should slow down and be watching for pedestrians EVERYWHERE. But they don't. Find a safe place to park and watch traffic at a major intersection for a little while. People (walkers, bikers, drivers) are on their phones, trying to beat traffic lights, distracted by something (smoking, radio, kids in cars), hurrying to get to their destination, etc., etc., etc. Even the best drivers make mistakes.
4) I agree walking is great for you, at the right place. I don't walk along interstate highways, and we don't build sidewalks along train tracks. There's a reason for that.
5) My car is likely the least of your worries. I'd worry more about young (inexperienced) and older drivers (sometimes visually impaired and not able to react quickly). Or maybe the unlicensed drivers or those that can't read (or don't understand) our traffic signs. Or maybe the truck driver who has been driving too long or is in a hurry to make his delivery before it closes. All those things are out there.
Again, it's a numbers game and common sense is needed.
anon@1:13: Changing out those handicap/disability ramps on every corner always amazes me.
ReplyDeleteanon@2:50: I agree with cars darting in and out various entrances between the new sidewalk, with no houses, it is an attractive nuisance.
"Walkable" and "bikeable" are the local equivalent of 'existential threat from "climate change.' Buzz words that Gen x,z,lmnop... love to impress us with.
ReplyDeleteI walk and bike a lot for exercise, fresh air and sustainable living, its nothing to do with climate change, buzz words or trying to impress people.
DeleteFrom a WFMZ article today: "The best part is that walking is free and can be done on your own time. Plus, it’s also good for your heart, bone density and even your mental health."
ReplyDelete7:53: Nobody is saying walking is bad for you. Just that it shouldn't be encouraged at locations that are dangerous to both walkers and vehicle drivers.
Delete