After action this week to lower the speed limit on a stretch of Atherton Street, State College has received state funding for more pedestrian safety measures along the road in the downtown area.
The borough was awarded $935,000 for the project through the state’s Transportations Alternatives Set-Aside, Gov. Tom Wolf and PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards announced this week. A total of 82 projects were awarded $66.8 million statewide.
‘Building for the future includes improving access to a variety of transportation options and these investments will promote safety and mobility for communities across Pennsylvania,” Wolf said in a news release.
State College received the funding ‘to improve pedestrian safety through sidewalk improvements, pedestrian fencing, street lights, street furniture and landscape features for traffic calming.’
Douglas Shontz, borough communications specialist, said the measures are intended for Atherton Street between Railroad Avenue to the south and West Beaver Avenue to the north.
The work will not take place until after the current phase of PennDOT’s North Atherton Street project, between Aaron Drive and Park Avenue, is completed in 2019.
In an outline of the issue to be addressed with the funding, the borough said that the area is a main pedestrian and bicycle corridor for students, non-student residents and visitors between the Penn State campus, residential areas and the commercial business district.
‘With the transient population, education about crossing safety is required,’ the statement said. ‘The proposed improvements will reduce crossings at unsafe locations and require pedestrians to utilize signalized intersections.’
Some of the other funds for the project may come from the developers of The Residences, the planned 455,000 square foot mixed use at the corner of South Atherton Street and West College Avenue. In approving the conditional use permit for the development, borough council required that the developer contribute to the cost of a proposed pedestrian control project in the same area.
Borough officials have long sought to work with PennDOT on pedestrian safety improvements for Atherton Street. An area north of the new project area, at the corner of Park Avenue, has been the site of a number of fatal pedestrian-vehicle crashes. PennDOT has made changes to markings on the road near the intersection and has discussed with the borough other potential measures such as pedestrian only crossing periods at a a few other intersections on North Atherton Street.
‘The borough is evaluating the entire area where there are interfaces with pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles from a safety perspective,’ the issue statement for the new project funding said.
After a PennDOT speed study, borough council on Monday approved lowering the speed limit from 35 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour on Atherton between West Prospect Avenue and West Mitchell Avenue.
‘This whole area of Atherton Street has been problematic for decades,’ Council President Evan Myers said on Monday. ‘Several people have been killed by vehicles walking across this area. I think this is a good first step but we should only regard it as a first step.’
Myers said he would like to see additional signage indicating high pedestrian traffic and better highlighting of crosswalks.
‘I think we need to have a strategy to make pedestrians safe on that part of Atherton Street and certainly throughout the whole borough,’ he said.
