A few months ago I wrote a post entitled Thoughts on How to Improve Hellertown for People, talking about important fixes in the physical design of Hellertown, including the design of Main Street with its parking and pedestrian crossings along with many other topics.
In light of returning home from Penn State–a great place for people–I want to focus on Hellertown once again in light of recent news of pedestrians and cyclists being hit by vehicles on the area’s streets.
How can we redesign the places where accidents have happened?
Main Street and Thomas Avenue, Hellertown
On Monday, May 4, a woman was hit at the intersection of Main Street and Thomas Avenue. The design of this intersection from the get-go is in favor of vehicles while marginalizing people with the long crosswalks for people and wide lanes for cars.
We cannot just brush off people being hit by cars in our borough. If Hellertown wants to draw people into its business district, people need to feel safe. While the borough has done a good job at working on improving its downtown for people, a sense of fear about being hit by a car can drive people away to surrounding shopping centers instead.
An idea for this intersection could be to implement curb bump outs which could shorten the pedestrian crossing while creating a street where people drive the speed limit naturally. Because of the LANTA bus stops across from 7-Eleven and in front of Saucon Valley Manor, the bump outs could also provide a better delineation to where the bus stop is.
An example of what this could look like can be seen below in State College, Pa.
Meadows Road and the Saucon Rail Trail
On May 11, a car and bike rider collided where Meadows Road and the Saucon Rail Trail meet.
The Saucon Source article mentions two residents of the area voicing different opinions of both cars and bikes having little disregard for one another at these intersections.
When looking at this intersection though, it is already well-designed in my mind. The poor sight lines create uncertainty when drivers or people riding bikes approach the intersection. This healthy level of risk causes people to pay attention here. And in my memory, this is the first time of ever hearing about an incident at this intersection. I will say though, that I have heard both drivers and bike riders yell at one another at these crossings.
Overall we need to realize that the Rail Trail is a place for people where cars need to pay attention and slow down. This does not give bike riders free reign to do whatever they want, but instead values the people of the community who use the trail.
Other thoughts on the Rail Trail intersections
While we are talking about the Rail Trail, one comment posted in the last section’s article mentioned that people need to walk their bikes across the street at the rail trails intersections.
People may say that this is not a big deal, but having to get off of your bike and walk it across a very short crossing throws off any rhythm that a rider may have. In my mind it is the equivalent of saying to a driver at these intersections to get out of their car and walk it across the crosswalk before driving again.
This would be absurd for drivers to do and is the exact reason why most bike riders ignore it. If anything, what would make these intersections safer would be drivers who wouldn’t speed across them. The physical designs of the intersections are not too wide, but people just don’t seem to care.
Therefore, in order to avoid any hatred among the area’s residents either in a car, on a bike or walking, we need to respect one another in these places. Just as cars are highly valued at the on/off ramps for I-78 while people are undervalued, people should be valued above cars at the Rail Trail intersections.
Water Street Park
Currently, Water Street Park is experiencing construction for the rest of the year. This has led the workers to fence off the construction site, including the sidewalk which connects the Rail Trail to the Heller Homestead and up Friedensville Road to the Saucon View apartments and Society Hill development.
As the picture below illustrates, there is still enough room for people to walk along, but it is uncomfortably close to traffic.
I will still travel along here regardless of an actual sidewalk or not, but for most people this construction will lead them to drive in order to reach close destinations.
One downside to this could be the possibility of less foot traffic during the upcoming Saucon Creek Arts Festival on Saturday, May 30. With this event being close in proximity to the Rail Trail, if the weather is good on this weekend a large number of people could possibly walk to this festival from the Rail Trail–the only issue being this small pedestrian connection that could inhibit people from reaching the festival. They could still drive there, but with a small parking lot there would not be ample space for people to park. And all we would be doing is encouraging more traffic on our area’s streets to travel such a small distance.
One solution for this could be to move the fencing back to allow access to the sidewalk; or possibly creating a temporary sidewalk like what can be seen along Route 412 by Interstate 78.
Working Towards a Place for People
My goal in all of this is not to hate on Hellertown. It is already a good place for people but it needs a few improvements in order to make it a great place for people.
So, are we willing to work towards making Hellertown a great place for people?
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Michael Sutherland’s blog, A Place for People. Michael Sutherland is a 2012 graduate of Saucon Valley High School and a Hellertown native. He is currently a rising senior at Penn State, where he studies geography and blogs about city planning issues.