Nice
to come back from Pro Walk Pro Bike with a reality check.
Mr.
Biehler, tear down the signs.
John
Boyle
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b5_5warrior0910sep10,0,6934244.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed
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Area
no-pedestrian signs unlikely to budge
Physical obstructions,
traffic, liability are factors for PennDOT.
Q:
Throughout the Lehigh Valley there are numerous busy intersections which sport
no pedestrian crossing ''Pedestrians prohibited'' signs exist for all four
crosswalks. My out-of-state fellow road geeks think that's a dumb arrangement.
Richard Cuff
Allentown
At the intersection of Route 512 and Hanoverville Road in Hanover Township, Northampton County,
there are signs on all four corners indicating that pedestrians are not allowed
to cross the road. Does that really mean it is illegal for a person on foot to
go through the intersection? What's a pedestrian to do?
Edwin Kay
Bethlehem
A: The Warrior has been accumulating
questions such as these for some time, including from colleagues at the newspaper
who find it irksome that there's no way to walk between bordering Allentown
parks. The Queen City takes more than its share of licks these days, but it
boasts an extraordinary public park system.
Trexler and Cedar Creek parks are divided by busy Cedar
Crest Boulevard. And though pedestrian access can be prohibited simply because
traffic volume and speed make it unsafe, the decision to post all four corners
of this crossroad also is based on physical obstructions, according to state
Department of Transportation official Tom Walter.
''I can't get you safely out of the
roadway'' at any of the four corners, Walter said. Access is blocked in two
directions by the Cedar Creek Bridge fence, guardrails and thick shrubbery.
It's technically possible to make east-west crossings on the side north of
Broadway/Parkway, but you're stuck in weedy underbrush to the west, and the
bustling parking lot for the Yurconic insurance
agency guards the east.
Any way you look at it, it's just not safe
enough, in Walter's view.
He provided the PennDOT
regulation, which puts it this way: ''Where there is no room to safely walk at
one or both ends of the normal pedestrian crossing area … thereby forcing
pedestrians to walk in the travel lane,'' no-pedestrian signs must be installed.
''It is a shame'' that this particular
pedestrian ban blocks access on foot between two beautiful city parks,
Allentown traffic engineer Don Steele said.
But there's no solution that wouldn't
cause the radiators to boil over for city taxpayers, Steele said. Pedestrian
bridges or tunnels, with their attendant safety requirements, disabled-person
access rules and all the rest, would cost a bundle, he said.
Were the intersection to be built today,
the bridge would be wider and include sidewalks with fences designed not to ban
pedestrians, but to protect them from traffic, Walter said. Pedestrian access
likely would be provided in all directions, complete with the crosswalk
markings and the lighted pedestrian signals with push-buttons.
At Route 512 and Hanoverville
Road, there's a nice mowed-grass strip on the southwest corner, but behind it
are tall evergreens and a housing development. On the other corners are the
Golden View Diner parking lot, and two open areas with taller weeds. It's
certainly possible to cross there, being extremely careful about the traffic.
Theoretically those signs could be
removed, but the township would have to ask PennDOT
for permission and also would bear the cost of installing the roadway markings
and lighted signals that would be required. It's an unlikely scenario.
Liability concerns probably come into play
in these cases too, Walter and Steele agreed. That can't improve the chances of
having no-pedestrian signs removed at any intersection, anywhere. And traffic
volume doesn't seem to be declining.
Walter said he's not sure if you would be
cited for ignoring the no-pedestrian signs, gentlemen. The state vehicle code
says only that ''local authorities by ordinance may require pedestrians to obey
… pedestrian-control signals,'' so it depends on where the intersection
is.
It's possible you could be cited, though
in practice, it's unlikely you'll get a ticket as long as you cross safely and
don't cause traffic problems.
So the scofflaw in you probably has little
to worry about, save for his own safety. And by all means, let's be careful out
there.
Road Warrior appears Fridays. E-mail
questions about transportation in the Lehigh Valley and beyond to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (please include your name, phone number and where you live).
Or, write to Road Warrior, The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown,
18101-1480.
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