Safety vs. Traffic Congestion
Last year around this time, PennDOT held a public meeting. In it they outlined a series of changes to improve pedestrian safety along High Street. Now, those changes are underway and it seems “pedestrian safety” is administrator speak for “slowed traffic movement.” Much in the same way a realtor might tell you a property is “charming.” It may be completely charming, but you also know it will be small.
On E. Miner Street crews are adding bump-outs to each side of the street. This will, as project managers describe it, “shorten the crossing distance from curb to curb.” That is one way to look at it. The other would be, they are reducing Miner to one lane just before the High Street crossing.
“I know for certain that this will increase traffic congestion as the present two lanes on Miner often back up all the way to Walnut,” one property owner in the area told me.
While at this time no other projects have been bid, similar bump outs are planned on E. Union, Lacey, E. Nields, and S. High Streets. High Street bump outs may not cost drivers a traffic lane but they will remove on-street parking spaces. As will new “parking exclusion areas.”
“You do lose some parking here but that is not uncommon in these improvements,” PennDOT Project Manager Vince Cerbone told meeting attendees last year.
What do you want to guess, Mr. Cerbone doesn’t live around here?
As for traffic speed, PennDOT maintains travel time down High Street will be roughly the same. However, they admit side street travel time will at times be longer. They are also hoping it will at times be shorter due to better traffic management.
You can view the complete list of planned upgrades here.
Improving the Pedestrian Experience
It is also important to note, PennDOT upgrades are focused on improving pedestrian safety which is not the same thing as pedestrian experience. A distinction made in 2020’s South High Street Corridor Plan, a Borough-commissioned report that essentially launched the High Street improvement discussion.
“South High Street today has more grit than polish,” the report reads. “The distinctive brick sidewalks – iconic of West Chester – have been disrupted by mature trees or replaced entirely with less-distinct concrete sidewalks. For all of its busyness and pedestrian activity (night and day), High Street today is sporadically and inconsistently lit. The corridor lacks ornamental street lighting (which is prevalent across the downtown business improvement) and intersection lighting – especially at its many crosswalks – doesn’t meet current lighting standards.”
Under PennDOT protocol if sidewalks are removed or disturbed as part of a plan they are replaced with what currently exists. Concrete for concrete, for example. The same goes for lighting. Some new street lighting is being added at intersections but again the focus is on effect rather than appearance. Of course, the big distinction between that 2020 vision and the one in the works today is – who is paying. As they say, recipients of multi-million dollar infrastructure upgrades can’t be choosers.
Fortunately for the Borough they learned earlier this month they were awarded a $750,000 Commonwealth Financing Authority grant. The Borough can use these funds toward some of the aesthetic upgrades the West Chester would like to see made in the area.
That new choke point on E Miner street will be a nightmare with all the re-routed traffic from Gay street when it’s closed on the weekends.