Report Suggests Bike, Pedestrian Safety Upgrades

Consultant suggest phased-in improvements on three key neighborhood corridors

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
October 16, 2024
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

Carla Lukehart and Andrew J.G. Schwartz of Environmental Planning & Design presented a report to McKeesport officials at the October council meeting. It recommends a series of phased improvements to make three key corridors safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. (Tube City Almanac photo)

A new report envisions a series of street and sidewalk improvements that would reshape three main corridors through the heart of McKeesport to improve access for bicyclists, pedestrians and bus riders.

The report — created by Environmental Planning & Design after more than two years of data collection and community input from city residents — stops short of recommending dedicated bike lanes, such as those in Pittsburgh and other major cities.

Instead, the report recommends the city plan to make investments in improved signage, safer drains and storm basins, and curb-cuts to make it easier for bicyclists, walkers and people in wheelchairs to connect to the Great Allegheny Passage, bus routes and shopping and recreation.

The total price tag for improvements to the Versailles Avenue, Jenny Lind Street and Freemont-Sumac corridors would be approximately $4 million.

“Something like this is a major undertaking,” said Andrew J.G. Schwartz, director of design for EPD, who presented the report this month to McKeesport city council and Mayor Michael Cherepko. It would “have to be done in phases or stages” as funding became available, he said.

“The idea was to break everything down in a digestible way,” said Carla Lukehart, a landscape architect with EPD. “It’s broken down by corridor and by element. It’s done this way so that it could be be implemented in a piecemeal situation whenever funding was available, after the city determines where the priority areas are, and where to place those dollars.”

A draft version of the plan was previewed for the public in April.

EPD’s report to city council breaks down the proposed improvements into 19 different segments, and includes cost estimates, property ownership information, locations of bus stops and curb cuts, and preliminary engineering drawings.

Schwartz and Lukehart said the plan prioritizes connecting the neighborhoods along Versailles Avenue to both the GAP trail and Renziehausen Park.

“The Versailles Avenue corridor is probably the most important corridor that people talked about either from a transit standpoint, a walking standpoint, or driving,” Schwartz said.

The city is currently developing a plan to replace the Versailles Avenue viaduct, which has been closed since 2022 for safety reasons, forcing residents of the Library Manor area to use a long detour. The cost of replacing the 300-foot long bridge over Ravine Street has been estimated at up to $10 million.

Cherepko and City Administrator Tom Maglicco said McKeesport officials would look to incorporate EPD’s recommendations into the design of the replacement bridge.

The EPD study was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention through the county’s ActiveAllegheny grant program, which channels economic development support to local projects that improve pedestrian and vehicle access to jobs, public services and attractions.

The proposal also recommends reopening Spring Street near Twin Rivers Elementary School to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The road, which connected Cornell Street to Jenny Lind Street, was closed to traffic in 2009 after drainage issues caused portions of the pavement to collapse.

Due to the continued drainage issues, caused by an underground spring, Schwartz said the proposal would call for the road to be limited to bicycles and foot traffic.

Many residents also expressed concern about Jenny Lind Street, according to Schwartz.

“There are a lot of sidewalks missing,” he said. “That was identified as important because of the mobility issues it causes. A lot of the streets have been repeatedly paved and as a result, the sidewalks are no longer accessible to chairs and scooters.”

Rather than dedicated bike lanes, the planners are recommending “share the road” designs. Schwartz said EPD was aware that residents and businesses would object if any on-street parking was eliminated.

“One of the presumptions was that we were not going to lose any street parking, so we had to find ways to be able to have facilities that complied with PennDOT standards from a safety standard — dimensional widths and so forth — and also maintained parking,” Schwartz said.

In some cases, he said, the planners have recommend creating off-street parking areas on lots where buildings have been torn down under the city’s blight removal programs.

Jason Togyer is editor of Tube City Almanac and volunteer executive director of Tube City Community Media Inc. He may be reached at jtogyer@gmail.com.

Originally published October 16, 2024.

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