READING, Pa. – During its Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night, Reading City Council heard a report on traffic calming throughout the city.
Charles Gushue, a traffic engineer with McCormick Taylor Engineering, submitted a traffic-calming policy and a crash analysis on 15 high-priority streets which council had submitted to be a part of the study.
Gushue said 10 additional corridors were evaluated with recommendations resulting from accidents.
The policy calls for the establishment of a local traffic advisory committee and for the city to provide low-cost calming measures that can be applied to high-priority intersections and roadway segments. It also outlines the process for equitable traffic calming.
Gushue said the policy will help to improve driver, pedestrian and cyclist safety.
Funding sources for such improvements could come from capital improvement funds, assessments, residential fees, state gas tax subsidies and municipal paving programs, as well as federal and state funding.
Gushue said the 10 street segments which were evaluated for recommendations were:
Fifth Street from Cresent Avenue to Laurel Street (436 crashes)
Perkiomen Avenue from 11th to 19th streets (172 crashes)
Lancaster Avenue from Route 422 to Kenhorst Boulevard (210 crashes)
Washington Street from 11th to Front streets (141 crashes)
Ninth Street from Windsor to South streets (90 crashes)
Schuylkill Avenue from Mercer to Front streets (90 crashes)
Fourth Street from Greenwich to Laurel streets (195 crashes)
Franklin Street from Second Street to Perkiomen Avenue (161 crashes)
Spring Street from Weiser Street to Hampden Boulevard (222 crashes)
Greenwich/Oley streets from Second to 11th streets (141 crashes)
The crashes identified in the study took place between 2019 and 2023.
Traffic-calming measures include: curb extensions, crosswalk visibility enhancements, enhanced conspicuity for roadway signs and signals, on-street parking, rumble strips, transverse markings, wider edges on the center lines, posted speed limits and street closures.
Gushue said more costly measures include improvements such as raised intersections, speed humps, raised crosswalks, bicycle lanes, curve design improvements and rapid flashing beacons.
Large-scale intersection redesigns include high-cost items such as: median dividers and refuge islands, realigned intersections, speed cameras, traffic circles and roundabouts.
Managing Director Jack Gombach said the administration is looking closely at the recommendations.
“We definitely want to look at what we can do within our budget and within an appropriate amount of time,” Gombach said. “We can get back to you (council) in three to six months, just to make sure that we’re being responsible and following up with a study that was done with the approval of council.”
Gombach also said the administration wants to carefully look at the makeup of a traffic advisory committee to ensure it will be effective.