PennDOT’s State Street “cap” plan prioritizes the movement of traffic, not people, while destroying a landmark Mini-Golf course.
BAYFRONT HIGHWAY RESOLUTION
ConnectUrbanErie.com / September 21, 2021 / Blasco Library
WHEREAS:
The Bayfront Highway must provide the volume of traffic needed to support the full development of Erie’s Bayfront;
WHEREAS:
Abundant and convenient connectivity (both vehicular and non-vehicular) between the City of Erie and the Bayfront is critical to the future prosperity and quality of life of Erie residents, and further, that non-vehicular connectivity is a social justice issue;
WHEREAS:
PENNDOT has clarified that 80% of current Bayfront traffic is using the Bayfront to cut across town and not to serve the Bayfront;
WHEREAS:
The current design for Parkway improvements will greatly increase the unwanted, induced cross-town traffic load by implementing “Expressway” design methods to improve PennDOT’s “Level of Service” grades that prioritize continuous traffic flow;
WHEREAS:
The induced cross-town traffic load will impede Bayfront development with unwanted, debilitating traffic volume and congestion on the Bayfront and along the Bayfront Connector, Rt. 290;
WHEREAS:
This induced cross-town traffic load greatly increases threats and hazards to non-vehicular connectivity between the city and the Bayfront (and along the Rt. 290 corridor) thus causing the current design to fatally restrict Bayfront crossings and the critical connectivity needed by Erie residents that will support sustainable economic development;
WHEREAS:
The best traffic and environmental planning is to encourage non-Bayfront destined traffic to use 12th Street and I-90 as the primary routes to get across town, and that these routes are already designed to serve as such;
WHEREAS:
Such diversion of cross-town traffic to proper routes will already be achieved when traffic detouring is implemented to facilitate the construction work on the Bayfront Parkway improvements;
WHEREAS:
The current Bayfront Highway congestion is evidence that this unwanted induced traffic load sabotages the primary purpose of supporting Bayfront development;
WHEREAS:
People accessing the Bayfront areas by vehicle will not be deterred by a few extra minutes on the short stretch of the Bayfront Parkway when they are already near their destination, and thus do not need expressway-like accommodations;
WHEREAS:
There are already numerous projects around the country that are reducing or even removing such disruptive urban highways so that they can reconnect communities torn apart by such highway projects and can enjoy the resultant prosperity of such connectivity;