East Ohio Street Bike Lanes

With time running out before PennDOT sent their drawings for repaving East Ohio Street/Rt 28 out to bid, Pashek + MTR assisted the grass-roots effort of the Northside Bike-Ped Committee by quickly developing a plan for protected bike lanes, crosswalks and other intersection improvements. Currently accommodating 25,000 vehicles a day on four driving lanes, a turning lane and on-street parking, East Ohio Street presents an intimidating and dangerous space for bicyclists and pedestrians to navigate through.

Working with a constrained roadway environment, we were still able to preserve street parking for a planned redevelopment by shrinking the travel lanes from 12’ to 11’ and shrinking the concrete median from 4’ to 2’ in some locations. We also reduced the size of the Chestnut Street intersection to slow traffic down and make it safer for pedestrians to cross.  Bike boxes also make it safer for bicyclists to turn through the intersection.  Culminating in a public meeting, the plan acquired a lot of support from both elected officials and local residents, resulting in PennDOT incorporating the recommendations into their final drawings.