Borough awash in bike lanes, road projects
Local share of $17.7M in improvements is about $10,000
POTTSTOWN » If it seems like you can’t turn a corner in the borough these days without running into a construction crew, you’re not wrong.
At least four major roadway projects have been in the works over the past several months. And don’t think it’s going to be over any time soon as there are more and continuing projects in the works through 2020.
And the good news is the cost in borough tax dollars will be little more than $10,000 for the $17.7 million in work being done throughout Pottstown.
Let’s Talk Bike Lanes
Although not the most expensive, certainly the most talked about project has been the addition of bike lanes along various route throughout town, as well as the changing of some twoway streets to one-way.
But they are not one project but actually part of two major-but-related initiatives.
One, called “Safe Routes to School,” is being funded with $214,151 from the federal highway administration, according to a spreadsheet provided by Interim Borough Manager Justin Keller.
Bids for that project went $60,000 over estimate, but a $50,000 reimbursement grant from PennDOT and another $135,000 grant from Montgomery County’s Montco 2040 grant program will help cover that overage, Keller told borough council at its June 6 meeting.
This is probably the best place to mention that in Montgomery County’s draft Bike Montco plan references the fact that “between 1970 and 2010, the percentage of children who walk or bicycle to school in the U.S. decreased from 48 to 13 percent. This shift contributes to the higher rates of obesity in children of all ages,” nearly one in five of whom is obese.
Safe Routes to Schools, which included signs and pavement markings in areas surrounding schools — primarily along Oak and Eighth streets — is already completed.
The federal government also paid the bulk of the cost — $1.3 million — for the three phases of Walk/Bike Pottstown, which will add eight miles of bike lanes to borough streets.
This project was aimed at creating “a network of walking and biking routes that connect schools and other destinations throughout Pottstown,” according to Keller.
In addition to bike lanes, “cycle tracks” and “sharrows” — pavement markings indicating bikes share the road with motor vehicles — this project also fulfills a pedestrian component, according to Keller, by including sidewalk remediation along these routes.
It also paid for the repavement of Johnson Street which, along with York Street, were each made oneway in order to accommodate the new bike lanes, which are also connected to the new bike lane on Second Street.
In addition to the federal funding, the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation provided $504,400 for the engineering of the project and another $135,000 for construction came from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.
It is this combination of projects which is eliciting the most reaction around town.
Bike Lane Complaints
“When I first saw them, I thought Pottstown had become home to the Tour de France,” joked 10th Street resident Tim Hain, who declared the project a waste of money.
“Nobody uses bikes in this town,” he said.
Particularly vocal about their objections are residents of Roland Street, where white pylons separate the bicycle lanes from the motor vehicle traffic.
They have said the pylons are ugly and detract from the re-sale value of their homes, and have also predicted complications during a heavy snow fall.
Keller said the borough plans to prioritize the clearing of the roadways during winter storms, primarily because bike lanes are rarely used during winter.
Once roadway clearing is complete, “the parks and recreation crew will be charged with clearing snow from the bike lanes,” he said.
It’s also not hard to find criticism of the bike lanes in The Mercury’s Sound-Off section or on Facebook.
During the June 10 council meeting, Councilwoman Rita Paez said “I am hearing complaints about the bicycle lanes, people losing parking.”
Keller confirmed some parking along High Street, near the Post Office, was removed to make room for bike lanes.
“We realize some of these new roadway treatments will take some getting used to,” Keller said.
Some “slight adjustments” may be made to the intersections or treatments, “but we have to wait until the project is finished, and we can fully assess the new traffic patterns in reality first,” he said. “Then we can make a list for further examination.”
Users Love the Lanes
But not everyone hates the bike lanes.
Exeter resident Robert Orfield and his 10-year-old son Richie were spotted making their way down High Street recently in what was the final stretch of a journey from Union Township.
“We started on the Schuylkill River Trail at the Fork and Ale,” said Orfield. “The farthest we’ve ever rode is Grosstown Road, but when we heard they had put in the bike lanes, we decided to try the wing special at Jack Cassidy’s” tavern.
After his son said “I’m on my bike all the time riding around,” Orfield said “I’m trying to get more active now that he’s more active.”
Another rider, who would give his name only as Tom, making his way down the High Street bike lane said he uses the lanes to ride 10 miles every three days.
“I keep a left ear listening for traffic and really the only thing I’ve had to watch out for is if the driver is not paying attention and tries to make a turn in front of you,” he said. “If the biker is not paying attention, that’s the biker’s fault.”
According to statistics contained in Montgomery County’s draft Bike Montco plan, drivers or bike riders making an “improper or careless turn” was the most frequent cause of accidents involving bicycles in the county between 2010 and 2015.
Schuylkill River Trail
Bikers coming the other way up the Schuylkill River Trail might be pleased to see the new trail and barrier along Industrial Highway, but puzzled to see signs declaring the recently finished trail closed.
The one-mile extension of the trail from Moser Road to South Washington Street cost $1.2 million, paid by Montgomery County, and will ultimately connect in Lower Pottsgrove with the trail crossing the Schuylkill River into Chester County built into the new Route 422 bridge there.
Keller confirmed the trail extension in Pottstown is “technically closed until the railroad crossing work can be completed. The county expects this work to start in about a month and to take a few days to be completed,” he wrote in an email to The Mercury.
“However, I can’t really provide a firm date because the county is at the mercy of Norfolk Southern as they actually have to perform the work in the railroad right-ofway,” Keller wrote.
More Road Paving
Now underway is $1 million in more than 30 road repaving projects awarded last year and paid for entirely through the borough’s share of the increased gas tax enacted by Harrisburg
Another recent road repaving project occurred on Manatawny Street, from High Street into West Pottsgrove and the Berks county line, which was a PennDOT project undertaken without any local tax money being spent.
Similarly, PennDOT has a project on the books for this fall, repaving North Hanover Street, which is a state road, from High Street north to the borough line at Mervine Street.
New Signals Everywhere
PennDOT is also paying the freight for the most expensive of the current projects — the $13.3 million “closed loop” project. Nearly 20 years in the planning, the “closed loop” project calls for the replacement of all borough traffic lights with new poles and street signs, as well as some in surrounding townships.
The “closed loop” portion refers to the fact that the lights will be timed and coordinated to make it easier for those driving the speed limit — in nearly every location in the borough it is now 25 miles per hour — to enjoy green lights all the way.
The new sophisticated system will also allow an element of control from borough hall, as well as have a transponder system that works with emergency vehicles, allowing them to trigger green lights when responding to an emergency.
That project will be with us until 2020.
Starting in 2020 another road project will involve “gateway improvements” on South Hanover Street from the bridge over the Schuylkill River to High Street, including repaving, the installation of “period LED street lights,” travel lane reconfigurations and, you guessed it, bike lanes.