From the left, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Lancaster city council member, John Hursh, Adriana Atencio, executive director with The Common Wheel, and Lancaster city Mayor Danene Sorace, converse before they took a walking tour along West Lemon Street to show Buttigieg the city’s pedestrian safety efforts as well as the bike lanes that have been installed with federal grant money on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
Suzette Wenger / LNP | LancasterOnline
Suzette Wenger / LNP | LancasterOnline
From the left, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Lancaster city council member, John Hursh, Adriana Atencio, executive director with The Common Wheel, and Lancaster city Mayor Danene Sorace, converse before they took a walking tour along West Lemon Street to show Buttigieg the city’s pedestrian safety efforts as well as the bike lanes that have been installed with federal grant money on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says he’s pleased with Lancaster’s efforts to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries and proud that his department has pledged $12.7 million to expand them.
Buttigieg took a walking tour of Chestnut Hill and downtown Lancaster Tuesday morning with Mayor Danene Sorace and other city officials. They checked out new bike lanes on Lemon and Walnut streets, a planned bike boulevard on Water Street, and other measures aimed at slowing traffic and protecting people on foot and bicycles.
“The thing that really impresses me about what’s going on in Lancaster is the commitment to safety and the understanding that improved bike and pedestrian structure isn’t ornamental, it’s fundamental,” Buttigieg told reporters outside Central Market.
Lancaster City was awarded a $12.7 million Safe Streets and Roads for All grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation last fall. The program was created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The city intends to use the grant to implement its Vision Zero Action Plan, which was adopted in 2018 and sets the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030. It was the largest competitive federal grant the city has ever received, and one of only 37 issued nationwide.
Buttigieg said pedestrian safety may not get the same national attention as airline safety, but far more people die on the country’s streets and roads than on airlines. The last fatal airline crash on U.S. soil occurred in 2009. Meanwhile, an estimated 40,990 people died in traffic crashes last year. Buttigieg said those deaths are preventable.
“Part of why I’m here is to cheer this city and their leadership in their effort to confront that,” he said.
Because pedestrian safety improvements require slowing traffic, they can face opposition from residents, Buttigieg said. As mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 through 2020 he experienced that firsthand. But he said after changes were made, residents embraced them.
“When a community does make that choice to have safer streets, even if they’re a little bit slower, they never regret it,” he said.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
