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Multi-Pronged Pedestrian Safety Initiative Coming to Hellertown

Pedestrian safety along the Main Street corridor in Hellertown has become a topic of utmost concern for many stakeholders in the borough, from residents to business owners to elected officials. That point was made abundantly clear at a special joint meeting of borough council and the planning commission Tuesday night at Borough Hall.

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Pedestrian safety along the Main Street corridor in Hellertown has become a topic of utmost concern for many stakeholders in the borough, from residents to business owners to elected officials. That point was made abundantly clear at a special joint meeting of borough council and the planning commission Tuesday night at Borough Hall.

The meeting was attended by a handful of residents and business owners, several of whom shared their experiences and ideas during what amounted to a 90-minute brainstorming session. However, at the end of the night, there were concrete plans in place to begin the process of making crossing Main Street easier and safer.

Enforcement of a law requiring drivers to stop for pedestrians in marked crosswalks will be a crucial part of the effort, said Police Chief Robert Shupp, who was forceful in his descriptions of both the problems that currently exist and the solutions his department will roll out to help address them.

Hellertown Police Chief Robert Shupp speaks about pedestrian safety at a joint meeting of Hellertown Borough Council and the borough planning commission Tuesday. Pictured, from left (seated), are council president Tom Rieger, councilman Phil Weber, council solicitor Michael Corriere, Shupp and borough manager Cathy Hartrant.

The challenges are real, because of the amount of traffic on Main Street–which has a traffic volume of more than 20,000 vehicles per day–and the characteristics of the road itself, he said. Another challenge is that Pennsylvania is the only state which doesn’t allow local police to use radar to help combat speeding.

“It’s like this road was constructed 300 years ago,” Shupp commented. He noted that the road’s grade in certain stretches, the amount of truck traffic, curves, and lines of sight which prevent the installation of additional traffic lights along the Rt. 412 corridor are all challenges.

For example, in response to a question from an audience member, Shupp said it would not be possible to install a traffic light at W. Thomas Avenue and Main Street, because the lines of sight there aren’t adequate per PennDOT criteria.

Pedestrian crosswalks at the intersection of Main Street and Thomas Avenue in Hellertown, looking north. The intersection does not have lines of sight sufficient for the installation of a traffic light, Police Chief Robert Shupp said at a meeting Tuesday.

In addition to educating motorists about pedestrian safety laws in the Commonwealth, Shupp said his department will be citing motorists who fail to obey the law.

“I promise you it will be hundreds and hundreds of citations a month,” he said, adding that the citations aren’t a money-maker for the police department and shouldn’t be viewed as such.

“For every ticket we write, we get $12.50,” he said, adding that the remainder of the money collected goes to the state. “Until we can get everything else approved, enforcement is going to be the large part of this (effort) in the beginning.”

Councilman Earl Hill recommended that signs promoting Hellertown borough as a pedestrian-friendly community be prominently posted at both ends of Main Street, in conjunction with the upcoming police campaign, which will also involve sharing educational links and other information on the department’s new Facebook page.

Shupp indicated that officers will be approaching drivers to hand out educational pamphlets about the pedestrian safety laws and their enforcement in Hellertown.

“I promise you we are going to get hammered for this,” he predicted.

Another topic discussed at the meeting is the timing of crosswalk signals at the borough’s four intersections with traffic lights, and whether there is adequate time for walkers to cross at them.

A non-scientific survey of the signal at Main and Water streets, next to Borough Hall, yielded uneven results, with some pedestrians having as few as three seconds to cross Main Street while others had 13 seconds.

Borough engineer Bryan Smith, of Barry Isett and Associates, said a countdown clock instead of the stop hands that are displayed on the screens pedestrians view as they cross the street might be beneficial, because it would give the person a better understanding of how much time they actually have to get across.

According to state requirements, the signalized pedestrian crossings on Main Street are adequately timed, he said, although councilman Phil Weber noted that the 15-second maximum the state allows for at intersections might not be enough time for some elderly or disabled people to walk across Main Street.

“We want to make sure that the pedestrian crossing time is sufficient to cross the road,” borough manager Cathy Hartranft said, but “PennDOT does have certain standards that we would have to adhere to.”

Hartranft floated the idea of petitioning PennDOT to lower the speed limit on Main Street from 30 mph to 25 mph, which would require that a speed study be conducted. Ultimately, a speed limit reduction would also require PennDOT approval.

About 10 years ago, the speed limit was lowered from 35 mph to 30 mph, yet pedestrian safety issues have persisted.

“I don’t think speed is the factor here,” Shupp commented. “I think if you made (the speed limit) 15 (mph) you’d have the same problem.”

Two of the biggest challenges to getting motorists to stop for pedestrians, he said, are increasingly distracted drivers and poor visibility in areas where people may be standing, waiting to cross.

For example, he said, if someone is standing on the curb they may be difficult to see due to parked cars. However, they may not feel safe walking out into the street to a point where they would be more visible to oncoming traffic.

In some locations, LANTA bus stops are located next to pedestrian crosswalks, which can cause confusion if someone is standing there waiting for a bus instead of waiting to cross the street, Shupp said.

The switch from incandescent streetlights to LED bulbs in the next few months should help to improve pedestrian visibility at night, it was noted at the meeting.

Council president Tom Rieger said the next steps toward improving pedestrian safety are to make sure the crosswalk signals are working and timed properly, to find out the cost to potentially modify the “stop hands” to countdown clocks and to experiment with the use of reflective crosswalk flags at Hampton Avenue, near Lost Tavern Brewing and BB&T bank, which Shupp said is one of the most heavily-used pedestrian crosswalks in the borough.

The flags will be kept in sand-filled buckets on either side of the crosswalk for use by pedestrians.

Rieger also encouraged residents and business owners to share the police department’s future Facebook posts about the pedestrian safety initiative, to help increase awareness.

Borough council is expected to further discuss it at their meeting Monday, May 15 at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall.

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About the author

Josh Popichak

Josh Popichak is the owner, publisher and editor of Saucon Source. A Lehigh Valley native, he's covered local news since 2005 and previously worked for Berks-Mont News and AOL/Patch. Contact him at josh@sauconsource.com.

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