A deadly pedestrian crash in a Centre County community is now prompting new design ideas at the busy intersection where it happened
Were here in downtown Bellefonte at whats known as the Diamond intersection where two of the main streets in town intersect, plus there’s pedestrian walkways and other changes. Now with the idea of improving safety here, the traffic patterns may be changing at the diamond.
In July of last year, a woman died while crossing the street near the diamond. The driver of the truck who hit her said he didn’t even see her
“That incident absolutely moved this along.we looked at ways to improve lighting,thats been an issue for years.but a full redesign of the Diamond came into play after the fatal accident”
So whats now on the drawing board for the Diamond? To increase safety, a priority is to slow down traffic. Two main ideas are being considered. One involves changes to the pedestrian walkways and building up street curbs
“The other option is much more expansive in that it would take the diamond out of the picture and put a roundabout in that intersection.so there would be a circle pretty much in the middle of the intersection”
“That incident absolutely moved this along.we looked at ways to improve lighting,thats been an issue for years.but a full redesign of the Diamond came into play after the fatal accident”
So whats now on the drawing board for the Diamond? To increase safety, a priority is to slow down traffic. Two main ideas are being considered. One involves changes to the pedestrian walkways and building up street curbs
“The other option is much more expansive in that it would take the diamond out of the picture and put a roundabout in that intersection.so there would be a circle pretty much in the middle of the intersection”
Bellefonte Borough council will be reviewing the ideas, and is also expected to schedule public hearings on the diamond traffic proposals
If any changes are made here,they’ll take a while. Since it is a state road is involved,penndot would also be involved in the review and approval.
