Help Keep Butler Street Safe for Bikes

From the Lawrenceville Bike and Pedestrian Committee:
Lawrenceville Bike Ped Committee Logo LBPC

Take Action Today to Help Keep Butler Street Safe for People on Bicycles!

As part of the final paving of Butler Street, set to be completed at the and of this month, PennDOT is planning to install centerline rumble strips through the heart ofLawrenceville. These permanent grooves in the pavement make a loud noise and vibration whenever a car drives over them, and are meant to keep cars from leaving their lane.

Unfortunately, this kind of infrastructure is meant for highways, not for narrow, multi-modal, neighborhood streets; rumble strips will actively discourage drivers from passing bikes with the safe and legally required distance of four feet, and will create a noise nuisance for residents and businesses.

We need your help to let PennDOT and our elected officials know thatLawrenceville doesn’t want this inappropriate infrastructure in our neighborhood. Please sign our petition to keep Butler Street safe for bikes and protect residents from unnecessary noise, and write to your elected officials. We’ve included a letter template below, along with contact information for Lawrenceville‘s City Council, State House, and State Senate members. We’ve made them aware of this issue, but they need to hear from as many residents as possible to make sure that PennDOT listens.

>>>SIGN THE PETITION<<<

LETTER TEMPLATE

Dear ________

It was recently announced that as part of the final paving of Butler Street in Lawrenceville, that PennDOT would be installing centerline rumble strips. This decision was made without consultation with any community groups or elected representatives and will create both safety and quality of life issues. Butler Street is a major bike route, and it is often necessary for cars to cross onto or over the center line in order to give cyclists the safe (and legally required) passing distance of four feet. The placement of rumble strips in the centerline will make it much less likely that drivers will be willing to do this, and as result will unnecessarily increase the danger to bike riders. In addition, the road noise created by rumble strips will cause significant disturbance to both residents and businesses on and near Butler St.

Centerline rumble strips are designed to reduce head on collisions on high-speed, two lane, unseparated highways; they are wholly inappropriate for low-speed, residential and commercial streets which are used by bicycles in addition to cars. For these reasons, it is essential that PennDOT cease its plan to install this infrastructure on Butler Street. Please help to make sure that Butler remains a neighborhood street and not a highway.

Sincerely,

Contact Information for Elected Officials

Office of Councilwoman Deb Gross
http://pittsburghpa.gov/district7/contact

Office of Representative Adam Ravenstahl
http://www.pahouse.com/ravenstahl/Contact/

Office of Representative Dom Costa
http://www.pahouse.com/DCosta/Contact

Office of Senator Wayne Fontana
http://www.senatorfontana.com/contact-me

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