BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2013 Discussion over traffic concerns on Pennsylvania Avenue dominated the Bethlehem City Council meeting Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n
Residents implored councilmembers to consider making their street safer by painting a white line to keep drivers passing through from hitting cars parked along the side of the busy street.<\/p>\n
“We ask you folks to advocate for us; this is a safety issue now,” said Rev. Bruce Stevenson.<\/p>\n
Another resident implored, “We’re asking you to please help us out to get that line there so we can keep everybody safe.”<\/p>\n
Mayor J. William Reynolds said traffic upgrades are being considered as part of a long-term complete streets plan. That plan, however, does not address immediate needs, such as those on Pennsylvania Avenue, he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s really sad that for these people to come here and beg, literally beg, for a safe existence… It’s also very shameful,” said resident Stephen Antalics.<\/p>\n
Director of Public Works\/City Engineer Michael Alkhal said the city previously evaluated the traffic situation and found that they “weren’t convinced that a white line could fix safety concerns.”<\/p>\n
Instead, Alkhal suggested speed enforcement could coerce drivers to follow traffic laws.<\/p>\n
“Driver behavior is the biggest problem,” Alkhal said.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Rachel Leon said she’d be more than happy to investigate the issue further by visiting the area. Leon also supported additional speed enforcement measures.<\/p>\n
“Even if it’s a couple patrols, maybe just a show,” Leon said.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Grace Crampsie Smith said the issue was personal to her, as she’d experienced something similar.<\/p>\n
“I know what it’s like having cars demolished,” Crampsie Smith said.<\/p>\n
As far as painting a white line, Crampsie said, “What would be the harm?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2013 Discussion over traffic concerns on Pennsylvania Avenue dominated the Bethlehem City Council meeting Wednesday evening.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,164,155,154,54170,54171,2927,54173,2928,8931,171,54169,54175,54174,54172],"class_list":{"0":"post-113483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-city-council","10":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","11":"tag-bethlehem-news","12":"tag-bruce-stevenson","13":"tag-eighth-avenue-and-martin-court","14":"tag-grace-crampsie-smith","15":"tag-health-center","16":"tag-j-william-reynolds","17":"tag-michael-alkhal","18":"tag-rachel-leon","19":"tag-stephen-antalics","20":"tag-tower-place","21":"tag-upscale-car-wash","22":"tag-womens-health-center"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113483","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=113483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}