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We've had enough serious traffic accidents over the years to know there are some long-established traffic patterns in Jamestown that need to change.
Our road designs in too many places make it difficult for pedestrians, cyclists – either pedal or electric-assisted – and vehicles to coexist safely. We have long held that some of those difficulties are behavioral. People drive too fast. They're distracted. Pedestrians too often walk in the street when sidewalks are available. The rise of e-bikes and scooters being ridden with no regard to traffic laws just adds more traffic to the finite space on many city roads.
Changing behavior can fix some of these issues, but not all of them. Some of our problem roads need physical changes to make them safer. Safe Streets For All is the city's attempt to do that.
High-traffic areas included in the plan include Main Street from Second to Sixth streets; West Fifth and West Sixth Streets; Third and Fourth streets – including the intersection with Fairmount Avenue, eliminating the Fourth and Monroe streets intersection and eliminating Martine Alley; Main and Eighth streets; Fourth Street from Clinton Street to Prendergast Avenue; much of Foote Avenue from Allen Street to Cole Avenue; Washington Street and the Main Street intersection that could, in the long term, see a roundabout installed; Falconer Street from Winsor Street to Lillian Dickson Park; and a lengthy stretch of Newland Avenue.
We remember a state-backed project a few years ago that would have eliminated street parking on Second Street and the public outcry that resulted. Eventually, that part of the project was scrapped even though one could argue that there does need to be a place on Second Street for cyclists of all kinds. Scrapping street parking didn't work, but the problem the state was trying to rectify still exists. Meetings like this week's Safe Streets For All meeting are an attempt to get concerns on the table before a project is proposed rather than after the fact.
City residents will have an opportunity from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26, at the Prendergast Library, 509 Cherry St. to share their thoughts on the proposed projects detailed in the Aug. 15 edition of The Post-Journal. Those projects can also be reviewed at https://www.jamestownny.gov/safe-streets-4-all . Those who can’t attend but still want to provide feedback can do so at https://tinyurl.com/4xt9bwxa.
Work won't begin anytime soon in any of these areas, but future projects will be awarded funding and priority status in part by the response at public meetings like Wednesday's. Speak now, or forever hold your peace.