Honesdale council agrees to remove parking spots for pedestrian safety at crosswalks

To increase pedestrian safety, Honesdale Borough Council on July 22 approved removing parking spaces and meters near crosswalks on Main and Church streets.

"We've had a problem with pedestrians being hit," Councilor William McAllister said.

He added that drivers will have a better line of sight when turning from a side street onto Main.

The council unanimously approved McAllister's motion to remove the parking spots. He said this action was taken according to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recommendations.

More: After pedestrians hit, awareness raised in Honesdale; new distracted driver law hailed

Councilor James Hamill then stressed the need to have the crosswalks repainted. Interim Borough Manager Kevin Kundratic replied that the borough was not able to find a contractor to do the work.

Hamill said that for the sake of pedestrian safety, the crosswalks must be repainted, even if it means council members volunteer to go out with paint cans.

"It is farce that we haven't had it done. It is negligent," Hamill continued. "It is criminally negligent if someone gets killed. On Fourth Street alone, at what is probably the busiest intersection in the county, crossing at CVS, there is no crosswalk! It's blank."

Before the vote, Sandi Levens, executive director of Greater Honesdale Partnership (GHP), hoped the council would work with the GHP on removing parking spaces. "We already have a beautiful design that has been approved by PennDOT to their specifications on the line of sight," she said. The study done by Woodland Design for the downtown revitalization streetscape project indicates which parking spots would be best to be removed.

Part of the streetscape project, which GHP has presented and received borough approval for, is to create "bump outs" at the crosswalks so that pedestrians can safely step out further to see oncoming traffic, and drivers can see them.

More: Honesdale getting $450,000 from state to start Main Street revitalization

AI street scanning proposed

Councilor David Nilsen, Streets Committee chairperson, recommended approval of an agreement to use Vialytics, a software program that allows scanning of every street in the borough with a camera and cell phone as a borough worker drives through.

Using artificial intelligence (AI), the software scans point out areas of roadway decay, potholes, signs that are covered or damaged, storm water drains and sewer caps, and so on.

He said that the images blur out faces of people and license plates.

Vialytics, Nilsen said, would update the borough weekly to make sure the program is used correctly. Aside from data collection, a "dynamic road condition assessment" is provided on a color-coded map. The Department of Public Works (DPW), Nilsen said, would receive images of tasks to be addressed.

Kundratic said that Vialytics would prepare the work order for the manager, who in turn would assign it to an employee.

The next scan of the street would indicate where road defects have been addressed.

The company calls for a three-year agreement at $5,000 a year.

Hamill advised tabling the vote for a month, to give more time to hire a full-time DPW director, who could then give input on the plan. The vote ended 3-3; Councilor Jason Newbon was absent. Mayor Derek Williams declined to break the tie vote, thus tabling the proposal another month.

Honesdale Council meets on the fourth Monday at 6 p.m. at City Hall, at 958 Main St. Meeting agendas and an audio recording of the latest council meeting are found at honesdaleborough.com .

Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com or 570-253-3055 ext. 1588.

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Honesdale council agrees to remove parking spots for pedestrian safety at crosswalks