{"id":11319,"date":"2025-10-22T14:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/11319\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T14:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:11:07","slug":"prone-to-crashes-pesky-pennsylvania-avenue-gets-new-paint-as-buffer-for-curb-parked-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/11319\/","title":{"rendered":"Prone to crashes, pesky Pennsylvania Avenue gets new paint as buffer for curb-parked cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 A roadway along the city\u2019s border with Allentown, notorious for its traffic careening into street-parked cars,<\/a> recently got its newest safety precautions: a few painted white lines.<\/p>\n

And people who live along and surrounding Pennsylvania Avenue already are taking notice of improved safety conditions, residents told City Council on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The lined areas span from Eaton Avenue to Ridgelawn Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy neighbors and I have noticed a decrease in speed. We\u2019ve noticed that cars are not hugging the curb as they once did. Let\u2019s just hope it continues that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rev. Bruce Stevenson, Bethlehem resident<\/p>\n

The Rev. Bruce Stevenson, who lives in the neighborhood, thanked officials and said, \u201cwhat you did made a huge difference for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy neighbors and I have noticed a decrease in speed,\u201d Stevenson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve noticed that cars are not hugging the curb as they once did.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just hope it continues that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Council President Michael Col\u00f3n insisted city Public Works deserves the bulk of the credit for making the changes happen.<\/p>\n

The department seems to always \u201crise to the occasion,\u201d Councilwoman Rachel Leon said.<\/p>\n

\"Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Will Oliver<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

A roadway along the city\u2019s border with Allentown notorious for its traffic careening into street-parked cars recently got its newest safety precautions: a few painted white lines.<\/p>\n

Stevenson was last before City Council on the matter in May, when he said he and his wife have had three of their vehicles totaled in their time living and parking along Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Avenue is about a mile and a half long, running from West Broad Street past Lehigh Shopping Center and residential neighborhoods before ending at Catasauqua Road.<\/p>\n

It’s a road seemingly known for its chaos<\/a> because of its design and size, residents have repeatedly said. <\/p>\n

They’ve said drivers take to it like a two-lane road when there’s been no painted line to guide them or offer a buffer for parked cars to begin with.<\/p>\n

\"Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Stephanie Sigafoos<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

A white line painted on Pennsylvania Avenue delineates the road of travel northbound and outlines a parking area for residents. Bethlehem officials painted the stripe on the roadway after residents complained parked cars had been hit and drivers treated the single northbound lane as a two-lane roadway.<\/p>\n

‘A huge difference’<\/p>\n

Another resident living close by, Maritza Figueroa, said she\u2019s \u201cmore than ecstatic\u201d that she and her family now are more comfortable parking in front of their house.<\/p>\n

The line makes \u201ca huge difference,\u201d Figueroa said.<\/p>\n

She said the line appeared to offer some protection at night, too. The lights have a kind of \u201cglow\u201d to them, making them hard to miss, she said.<\/p>\n

Bethlehem resident Maritza Figueroa said she\u2019s \u201cmore than ecstatic\u201d that she and her family now are more comfortable parking in front of their house along Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n

William Scheirer, who lives around the corner on Eaton Avenue, said he\u2019s spoken with Public Works about the potential for a white line on the opposite side of Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a parked-car problem there like there is on the east side, but there is passing on the right,\u201d Scheirer said. \u201cIt\u2019s happened to me once and to a friend of mine once.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told her when she comes down, drive in the middle. Otherwise, you might get surprised on the right \u2014 same problem, just no parked cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Stephanie Sigafoos<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

A white line has been painted on northbound Pennsylvania Avenue in Bethlehem to delineate the single-lane roadway from a parking area for residents. The heavily traveled roadway is near the Union Boulevard shopping center and the city’s border with Allentown.<\/p>\n

Another problem spot<\/p>\n

The city also has its sights on another area about three miles away at East Goepp and Maple streets \u2014 a pesky intersection with cars parked on both sides of the road and limited visibility reported Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Two \u201cLook Left-Right-Left Before Pulling Out\u201d signs and two stop signs are on either side of Maple, but traffic continues moving east and west across Goepp. <\/p>\n

A crosswalk across Goepp is at the eastern end of the intersection.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite a crossing guard for the schoolchildren, a flashing light, signs and paintings on the road, I see drivers speeding through this intersection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethlehem resident Randi Rice on chaos at Goepp and Maple streets<\/p>\n

\u201cThere must be a way to divert traffic from this area of town every day,\u201d city resident Randi Rice said. \u201cDespite a crossing guard for the school children, a flashing light, signs and paintings on the road, I see drivers speeding through this intersection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will not stop, nor will they slow down to allow people to cross Goepp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Improving conditions<\/p>\n

Mayor J. William Reynolds said he used to walk the intersection in question when he was in school.<\/p>\n

A city Complete Streets plan in the works will detail how Bethlehem can make its streets as safe as possible for walkers, bikers and drivers, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCar culture is out of control everywhere, including the city of Bethlehem. And a big piece of that is how we view our streets and how we build our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds<\/p>\n

He said there may need to be broader street infrastructure changes beyond just more focus on enforcement or signs \u2014 citing the two-way conversion to come for a portion of nearby Linden Street<\/a> as an example.<\/p>\n

\u201cCar culture is out of control everywhere, including the city of Bethlehem,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cAnd a big piece of that is how we view our streets and how we build our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though his department is closing in on the end of its paving season, city Public Works Director Michael Alkhal said of the intersection troubles, \u201cWe\u2019ll take a close look at it, and if there\u2019s anything that we feel would help the situation, we\u2019d certainly follow up and execute.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 A roadway along the city\u2019s border with Allentown, notorious for its traffic careening into street-parked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,8925,8926,8927,8928,8929,8930,8931,8932,8933,635],"class_list":{"0":"post-11319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-bethlehem-roads","12":"tag-bethlehem-roadways","13":"tag-east-goepp-street","14":"tag-linden-street","15":"tag-maple-street","16":"tag-maritza-figueroa","17":"tag-michael-alkhal","18":"tag-pennsylvania-avenue","19":"tag-the-rev-bruce-stevenson","20":"tag-will-oliver"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}