CONNECT URBAN ERIE:
EMPOWER ERIE RESIDENTS TO BUILD A CONNECTED, THRIVING, SAFE AND JUST CITY

November 27, 2023

The Downside of One-way Streets

At tonight’s Connect Urban Erie zoom meeting, a proposal to reduce Erie’s one-way streets was mentioned as a possible project to support our mission of empowering residents to build a connected, thriving, safe and just city. In Erie, on West 8th from State to Liberty vehicles race downtown. Lloyd Alter, writing in 2022 in Treehugger, says “one-way streets are killers and we should get rid of them.” Alter quoted city planner Mark R. Brown who described the problems with one-way streets on his blog, Car Free America, - “in Baltimore, Dallas and other communities in Florida, I’ve noticed one-ways often had higher speeds, more crashes, and a far less qualitative sense of safety for vulnerable road users." Emily Badger, writing in the Washington Post in 2015, claimed that “one-way streets are bad for everyone but speeding cars.” They encourage drivers to go fast, which makes communities less walkable and less vital. Badger explains, “These are the streets lined with foreclosed homes and empty storefronts . . . the streets where you might find drug dealers at night” and the streets with more accidents. She notes that in 2011, Louisville, KY converted two streets back to two-way streets and found, rising property values, lower crime and a decrease in accidents, despite an increase in traffic. An addition to this issue is city streets without street parking as is the rule on the south side of West 8th from Liberty to the Bayfront. This 24/7 parking restriction encourages speeding, and lowers property values. In 2013, Eric Jaffe, writing in Bloomberg outlined the case against one-way streets:

Livability: vehicles stop less on one-way streets, which is hard for bikers and pedestrians. Navigation: one-way street networks are confusing for drivers, which leads to more vehicle-miles traveled; they also make it tough for bus riders to locate stops for a return trip. Safety: speeds tend to be higher on one-way streets, and some studies suggest drivers pay less attention on them because there's no conflicting traffic flow. Economics: local businesses believe that two-way streets increase visibility.

November 11, 2023

John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Narrower Traffic Lanes in Cites Could Help Lower
Risk of Traffic Related Collisions

A new report from John Hopkins outlines “the critical role street design plays in traffic and pedestrian safety. recommends urban street lane-width reductions to “increase walking, cycling and improve overall safety.” They advise city planners and engineers to “prioritize inclusive street design rather than driving speed and functionality.” This report provides yet another reason to rethink PennDOT’s Bayfront expansion plan.

Mark Osiecki, an Erie native now working internationally as a project manager on pollution control and infrastructure projects, explains how PennDOT’s Bayfront Parkway reconstruction project is not merely an infrastructure project, but in fact a critical social matter that may adversely impact the prosperity and safety of Erie’s east bayfront neighborhoods for decades to come.

Osiecki describes American’s sad legacy of allowing DOTs, both at the state and federal level, to repeatedly destruct the livability of central urban neighborhoods with massive highway projects, and suggests that Erie’s leaders pause the project and turn this critical societal issue over to people better qualified in urban planning on behalf of Erie’s bayfront residents.

In case you’ve not met Mark, scroll down to watch his recent presentation at the Society for Commercial Archeology annual conference held in Erie in June 2023.

In their video “The Value of Time”, Smart Growth America debunks one of the most widely applied rules still used by DOTs everywhere to justify frivolous, massive highway projects that in the end only invite more traffic, more congestion, more pollution, imperil pedestrians…and destroy the livability of our cities. This is very timely food for thought for Erieites as PennDOT prepares to reconstruct the Bayfront Parkway to pump even more cross-town traffic across Erie’s uniquely beautiful bayfront. Learn about the meaning and consequences of the principle of induced demand and what it may bode for Erie’s future once the parkway’s reconstruction is complete. Please be sure to tap the subscribe button below the video to access more content from Smart Growth America. 

July 29, 2023

Cleveland.com :
“Cleveland’s downtown lakefront plan . . . ”

Cleveland.com reporter Steven Litt writes that Mayor Justin Bibb says Cleveland’s downtown lakefront plan supports the “regional goal of adding to and connecting with emerging trails on Cleveland’s West Side, but especially in the East Side, which has been walled off from the lake by railroads and the Interstate 90 Shoreway.” In Litt’s story, he quotes the Mayor as saying his city is “focused on making sure the East Side [of Cleveland] has broader access to the lakefront. . . " and that Cleveland’s massive, pedestrian-focused project will “change the trajectory of our city for the next generation.”

 

In contrast, to Cleveland plan, PennDOT is poised to spend $115M to expand Erie’s Bayfront roadway. PennDOT’s construction plans will double vehicular traffic while harming the economy, environment and quality of life for the city’s Eastside neighborhoods.

After making false claims to avoid the required NEPA Environmental Assessment, and after willfully ignoring the advice of residents and experts and managing to get federal lawsuit and appeal dismissed (filed by EarthJustice on behalf of PennFuture and the NAACP) PennDOT’s current Bayfront plan is proceeding and will negatively impact “the trajectory of our city” for generations to come.

june 2023

CUE at Society for Commercial Archeology’s 46 Annual Symposium:
"Redesigning Erie’s Bayfront - Opportunities for Social Change”

On behalf of Connect Urban Erie (CUE), Mark Osiecki analyzed the origins of the socio/economic challenges plaguing Erie’s east bayfront neighborhood and describes how PennDOT’s planned reconstruction of the Bayfront Parkway will worsen them. He touches on the systemic problems associated with massive dual-lane urban roundabouts like the one intended to be built directly adjacent to the Blasco library.  An alternative approach is explored that will reduce existing social barriers, promote pedestrian/cyclist access to and from the neighborhood and provide a park/performance venue…all with the aim of improving the prosperity and safety of Erie’s lower east side.  Mark is an Erie native who lived in this neighborhood as a child. In this report, Osiecki applies his vast experience - working internationally as a project manager on pollution control and infrastructure projects, recently collaborating with the Norwegian government on carbon capture and flu gas desulfurization projects, and the Stockholm city government on a new seaport facility - to Erie’s Bayfront project.

PennDOT's Bayfront Parkway images and narrative are misleading. To prepare readers, this image depicts the reality of PennDOT's massive, two-lane roundabout at Holland Street that will erase a portion of the library's parking lot and demolish the existing Holland Street sidewalk. PennDOT will eliminate the existing north-south crossing at Holland and will prohibit pedestrians at street level. Non drivers will be forced to a yet to be constructed overpass that will double the distance from east side neighborhoods. Absent from all PennDOT's pictures are the huge highway signs that will be necessary to guide twice as many Bayfront drivers taking a short cut through the city. This Digital Collage and AI Drawing was created by Jordan Lander in collaboration with Lisa Austin.

August 2022

Connect Urban Erie
2022 TOWN HALL


The 2022 TOWN HALL: Envisioning Erie’s 21st Century Bayfront (and the community gathering held two years ago - Bayfront Town Hall held August 25, 2020) clarified why PennDOT’s $100 million Bayfront Improvement Project will, by expanding an arterial highway, fail to catalyze Erie’s economy, protect the environment, or improve residents’ quality of life. Speakers demonstrated that by reallocating the targeted funds to create a Bayfront Boulevard instead of the proposed arterial highway we can protect Erie’s water, air and sound level, while enhancing public health and fostering a thriving, sustainable urban waterfront better connected to the city that will benefit all residents and stakeholders, including developers.  

2022 Topics:

  • Federal Lawsuit filed against PennDOT and the FHWA in December 2020

  • Erie & the National Movement for Transportation Equity

  • a 21st Century Vision of Erie’s Bayfront Parkway

  • need for Community Engagement (sign the resolution - link below)

As PennDOT flawed planning process becomes clearer, David McCullough’s warning is worth repeating. “Never assume that people in positions of responsibility are behaving responsibly.”

Thanks to all who attended this Town Hall at the Blasco Library, and online via the webinar to hear the speakers: Jenny Thompson (PennFuture), Janice Cole (Connect Urban Erie), Councilman Andre’ Horton (Erie County Council), Adam Trott (CIVITAS & Connect Urban Erie), Attorneys Courtney Bowie and Hillary Aidun (Earthjustice), Ben Crowther (American Walks), Tony Dutzik (Frontier Group), Roland Slade (Connect Urban Erie), Gary Horton (Erie NAACP). Kudos to organizers: Lisa Austin, Katherine Green, Art Leopold, Judy Lynch, Kevin Pastewka, Roland Slade, Jenny Tompkins, Adam Trott, to musician Julie Von Volkenburg and to filmmaker, Tom Weber.

CONNECT URBAN ERIE’S MISSION:

EMPOWER ERIE RESIDENTS TO BUILD A connected, THRIVING, SAFE AND JUST CITY