'Safer and more welcoming': Easton gets $1.3 million for transportation improvements

EASTON, Pa. — Easton soon will see $1.3 million in funding for safe and accessible transportation efforts in the city.

Community members, city and regional workers, and politicians gathered Wednesday to celebrate a $1 million award for traffic calming and safety improvements.

Additionally, the city got $300,000 for a downtown intersection redesign as a conference in Scott Park near the waterfront.

The money comes from the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study.

LVTS Technical Committee Chairman Brendan Cotter said the body works with the state Transportation Department, the U.S. Department of Transportation, each municipality in the Lehigh Valley, and active community groups to ensure funding is allocated in a balanced manner for all modes of transportation.

Those groups include Community Bike Works and the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation and Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Association.

$1.3 million in funding for Easton

Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside and Carbon Reduction Program funding helps support community-based projects that expand transportation — including biking and walking.

In addition, it supports safety and education programs and the reduction of carbon emissions due to travel.

“This funding is dedicated to advancing transportation alternative projects such as bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, promoting sustainable and green infrastructure and implementing intelligent transportation systems that reduce the environmental and community impacts of freight movement throughout the region,” Cotter said.

“LVTS is distributing $11.4 million in grants from these two essential programs: $2.6 million in TASA grants and $8.8 million in CRP grants.

"On behalf of the LVTS, we are honored and excited to award $1.3 million of that right here in Easton at this time.”

LVPC Executive Director Becky Bradley, also the study's secretary, thanked United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and AARP Pennsylvania for partnering with the LVPC for a walking study that helped identify intersections and other areas that posed problems for pedestrians and cyclists.

In addition, Bradley commended the Greater Easton Development Partnership, Easton City Council, Northampton County Council, Northampton County Department of Community and Economic Development, and other city and state groups that have played a role in the acquisition of funding or improvements.

The improvements

“With this money, Easton is going to install all kinds of new sidewalks, crosswalks, ADA-accessible ramps and bump-outs that will make this very busy downtown community all the way into the West Ward of Easton better," Bradley said.

"And those improvements continue up Northampton Street, as most of you know, which is the lifeblood of Easton's downtown business district.

“So all of those things will help from 7th to 15th Street and then, eventually, along to 13th Street, from Butler to Jackson, allow the city to accomplish its goals of a more pedestrian and bike friendly and transit friendly place.

“So all these traffic calming strategies will help make the city's busiest corridor safer and more welcoming to everyone, as well as provide options and make it easier for people to walk, bike and take transit, which helps meet some of our global air quality goals.”

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. gave a brief history of the LVPC and LVTS helping to connect the waterfront to the downtown district via one of his favorite funding methods — “OPM,” or “Other People’s Money.”

In addition, Panto said, it has helped the city's historic design as a walkable metro area that requires accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists.

“We need to be able to go across streets, and the bump-outs will make a smaller area for people to have to cross," Panto said. "And we're really looking forward to this $1.3 million as we provide more bike lanes.

“We just provided one up at College Avenue and one from the circle all the way out to 15th street. That's very important, as more and more people use alternative methods of transportation, and bicycles seems to be the cheapest and easiest ones to get.”

Panto concluded his remarks alluding to federal funding that was “clawed back,” leading to the city cutting a position, though he reassured attendees that would not happen with the $1.3 million.

“This one isn’t coming back," Panto said. "This one we’re going to spend real quick."

Steering from a car-centric culture

State Rep. Robert Freeman also spoke on the rise in pedestrian and cyclist traffic in the city, saying, “we have been a far-too car-centric culture,” which leads to accidents.

“These improvements will go a long way to accommodate even more safety, ensuring pedestrian safety and also ensuring that we calm traffic to a reasonable level,” Freeman said.

“This is long overdue. This is a great shot in the arm to the community, and I am just so grateful for the work that's been done by everyone to bring these dollars here to Easton to improve our pedestrian, bike and transit friendly setting.”

State Sen. Lisa Boscola’s chief of staff, Joe Kelly, closed out remarks, touching on the walkability of Easton as a key feature that needs to be promoted and protected.

“I've been to a number of Sal Panto presentations, where he often laments that you don't have a parking problem here in Easton, you have a walking problem," Kelly said.

"And creating interesting places and fascinating ways to move people about the city encourages people to walk, walk a little further and make it more interesting. So that's always important.”

'Getting stuff done for a long time'

Kelly said Boscola “always likes to emphasize it’s really easy to invest in Easton because Sal Panto has been getting stuff done for a long time.”

Following the presentation, city Department of Public Works Director Dave Hopkins said he was very excited about the funding. He called it “a decent amount of money, and significant for us” that could also help drive traffic to the waterfront.

“It doesn't go as far as it used to, but $1.3 million is definitely significant," Hopkins said.

Hopkins said he's "really looking forward to working on the intersection of Larry Holmes Drive and Northampton Street. That is a tough one to navigate for anybody.

“I'm a walking commuter, and I have trouble getting through there," he said. "So trying to shorten the crossing distance and make it a lot easier to cross there, that is a big goal of ours.

"We want people to come to the waterfront. It's a beautiful space: We have a new dog park, we have some new swings, and we want to get people here as easily and safely as possible.”