ALLENTOWN, Pa. — City officials are moving closer to approving a $312,000 road safety study they hope will cut back on the number of injured pedestrians and cyclists within city limits.
Following a news conference about the funding Tuesday, Mayor Matt Tuerk said the city is finalizing the request for proposals for consultants to apply for the job. The money is coming from the federal Safe Streets for All Program bankrolled by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Tuerk and Allentown School District Superintendent Carol Birks thanked Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, for supporting the bill at Tuesday's conference.
"This is about safer streets and safer roadways," Casey said during his brief remarks extolling the spending package.
- Between 2018 and 2022, Allentown had nearly 500 pedestrian-involved accidents where someone was hurt or killed
- City officials are readying RFPs for a study on how to improve road safety for pedestrians and cyclists
- The study will be paid for with a $312,000 grant bankrolled by the bipartisan infrastructure deal Congress passed in 2021
Over the past five years, Allentown has seen 496 pedestrian-involved accidents where someone was hurt. Eight of those resulted in a fatality, including the September 2022 death of Angela Yowakim, a Dieruff High School paraprofessional who was struck while crossing Irving Street. Five of the deaths came last year. Mayor Matt Tuerk cringed at those figures, saying the city is striving for a year where no pedestrians or cyclists are seriously injured.
"We all deserve safe streets in this city, and there are actions that we can take to accomplish safer streets," Tuerk said. While some of that involves improving enforcement and driver education, the city can also update infrastructure to promote safety, he said.
For comparison's sake, nearby Bethlehem saw 196 pedestrian-involved crashes resulting in injury between 2018 and 2022, including four fatalities.
Tuerk said he wants to see improvements in public areas that draw heavy foot traffic, such as schools and parks. The city has already paid for speed board signs around Dieruff High School out of its general fund, but Tuerk said he'd like to see more work around the 1200 block of Hamilton Street, where the Allentown Public Library is, and Central Elementary School on Turner Street.
Pedestrian safety is particularly vital for the Allentown School District, and not just because of Yowakim's death. The district is the only one in the region that doesn't have its own school buses, and a large number of students walk or bike to school. Superintendent Carol Birks said she's heard from parents, teachers and students who are concerned about the safety of people going to and from school. She praised Casey for empowering city leaders to tackle the problem.
"This grant opportunity will allow us to collectively develop high-impact strategies to enhance road safety and identify measurable actions that can be scaled across the city to yield long-standing innovative technologies, efficiencies and sustainable benefits over time," she said.
While the study will ultimately make recommendations on where and how to invest in public safety, a quick review of state data highlights some problem areas. The Pennsylvania Crash Information Tool identified 25 locations around the city that have seen multiple crashes involving pedestrians in the past five years. Nine of them were on the 7th Street corridor. Another eight were along 15th Street.
The worst location was the corner of 7th and Tilghman, which has seen 10 accidents involving a pedestrian resulting in an injury, according to the database. Close behind it was the intersection of 15th and Turner, which has had nine such crashes in the past five years.
Changing gears for the election
The news conference marked the second time this month Casey visited the Lehigh Valley to promote the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bipartisan law he supported in 2021 that created $550 billion in new spending for roads, bridges, sewers, high-speed internet and more. On May 7, he swung through Whitehall Township to promote $22.5 million of federal funding going toward replacing the Cementon Bridge over the Lehigh River.
Casey, Pennsylvania's senior senator, will seek his fourth term in office in 2024. Political observers expect his seat representing a swing state in a bitterly divided Congress to be hotly contested. In recent years, the Lehigh Valley has proven to be a battleground region in a purple state, making it a popular destination for political hopefuls.
