A $3 million state grant awarded to the City of Lancaster will be used to make Water Street a safer route for bicyclists traveling north and south through the city.
The Water Street bicycle and pedestrian boulevard, scheduled for construction next year, will feature new curb bumpouts and speed humps along the route, designed to provide cyclists with a safer alternative to the busy one-way street. has been done.
A $3 million grant from the state Department of Transportation's Transportation Alternatives Security Program announced this week represents about 40 percent of the total budget for the project, which is estimated to cost between $7.5 million and $8 million. The project has already received $3.1 million in funding from the Lancaster County Planning Authority and an additional $1.5 million from the city.
The project will be a 1.25-mile project extending from Fairview Avenue on the south end of the city to Harrisburg Avenue in the north, connecting neighborhoods south of King Street with the city's existing east-west bike lanes. It's similar to the Christian Street bike boulevard that connects Lancaster Station to downtown, but it doesn't extend south beyond King.
“It provides people in the Southwest with a north-south connection to the bicycle facilities at Walnut Street and Lemon Street,” said Cindy McCormick, deputy director of public works for the City of Lancaster.
There are three intersections along the route: Orange Street, Lemon Street and King Street, which are ranked in the top 10 for serious and fatal crashes in the city's Vision Zero Action Plan. The action plan is the city's blueprint to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on city streets by 2030.
Between 2014 and 2018, the basis for the action plan, there were a total of four serious or fatal accidents at these three intersections.
The 14 speed humps planned are designed to reduce vehicle speeds on Walnut Street to less than 20 mph. Mr McCormick said it was likely that some drivers using Water Street would choose other routes, such as Prince Street or Queen Street. According to PennDOT data, an average of 5,000 vehicles use Water Street per day.
Eight curb extensions will reduce the crossing distance for people walking and biking on Water Street at eight locations: Lemon Street, Chestnut Street, Orange Street, King Street, Vine Street, Farnham Street, Conestoga Street and Seymour Street. It is planned at the intersection. Some are installing rainwater planters similar to the Mulberry Street curb extension.
Elevated crosswalks are planned along Conestoga, Hazel and Seymour streets where they intersect with Water Street.
The city plans to build two sections of bike path, each about 400 meters long. One is located behind the Pennsylvania SPCA Lancaster Center between Seymour Street and Fairview Avenue. The other will stretch south of Culliton Park between Conestoga and Hazel streets. We are currently working to obtain easements for these properties.
The 2019 Lancaster Active Transportation Plan identified a 1.25-mile bike boulevard as a priority project to help promote a broader bike lane network in the city. The plan also identifies a future 1.75-mile extension not included in the current project, which would add a bridge over the Conestoga River and connect it to Buchmiller Park, located south of the city.
