Dangerous by Design - Greater Pittsburgh

Route 51 is designed for speed. While most of the crashes on Route 51 happened in areas with high marked speed limits (between 35 and 55 MPH), the design of the road is virtually the same in the sections of Pittsburgh where it is marked at 25 MPH. Multiple lanes and relatively straight segments (our roads can only get so straight in Pennsylvania) encourage higher speeds.

Crosswalks are inadequate. Some areas along Route 51 have regular crosswalks, but most of the road has a long distance between them. This can encourage crossing mid-block, where most of the crashes on Route 51 are located. In many instances the crosswalks are faded and need to be replaced. Many crossings, such as those needed to get to the bus stops at Lebanon Church Road, don’t seem to have any crosswalk. In addition, the car-oriented retail along the road leads there to be multiple driveways that a pedestrian would have to cross, introducing more conflict.

There are people there wanting to cross the street. Hotels, offices, and high-density residential are located along the road, across from restaurants and stores that people want to get to. This demand for pedestrian travel is unmet by the supply of pedestrian infrastructure. When there isn’t a clear and easy way to get to what you want to get to, people will do their best with an unsafe system, and sometimes that will lead to a deadly crash.

There is no comprehensive sidewalk system. Sidewalks are rare and often will only be present in front of one business, then disappear in front of the next. Some sidewalks dump people into a neighboring business’ driveway. Many intersections will have sidewalks right at the crossing that disappear before they have a chance to lead anywhere. Not providing a safe pedestrian network that connects to safe road crossings, again, encourages mid-block crossing, a dangerous activity on a high-speed road.

II. Recommendations

The Dangerous by Design 2022 report made a number of recommendations for all levels of government. In this section we will describe those recommendations as well as elected officials from Pennsylvania that can be contacted to push these recommendations forward.

Federal

Dangerous by Design recommended actions that can be taken by a number of federal agencies, as well as congress.

USDOT

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is in charge of transportation policy at the federal level. Dangerous by Design had a number of recommendations for USDOT:

• adopt the position that safety and speed are incompatible goals

• stop allowing transportation agencies to claim safety benefits from congestion reduction projects, which typically lead to higher speeds and less safety for non-motorists

• do not use “value of time” guidance to allow higher vehicle speeds to be credited as travel time savings

• prioritize safety with the $200 billion in discretionary competitive grants that they control from the the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)

• steer the funding that goes out to states and metropolitan planning organizations to safety

• use their bully pulpit to praise the states that are setting strong safety improvement targets and meeting them, and point out the states that are taking federal taxpayers’ money and setting targets for more people to die

USDOT is lead by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. They can be contacted by phone at (202) 366-4000, or by mail at

U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20590

NHTSA

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is a division of USDOT focused on reducing vehicle-related deaths, historically through regulating car safety standards. Dangerous by Design commends them for including pedestrian safety in their New Car Assessment Program proposed rule, but encourages them to go further:

• ensure that vehicle design does not impede direct vision of people in front of the car, such as by having a high grill than can block the view of pedestrians, especially children, in front of trucks or SUVs

• incorporate pedestrian survivability into vehicle safety ratings

NHTSA is administered by Ann Carlson. They can be reached by email, by phone at (888) 327-4236, or by mail at

NHTSA Headquarters

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
West Building
Washington, DC 20590

FHWA

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of USDOT specializing in highway transportation. They are responsible for road design standards, such as the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Dangerous by Design recommendations include:

• update design standards, like those in the MUTCD, to stop prioritizing vehicle speed over safety

• release stronger clarifying enforcement on federal rules like those on the protection of nonmotorized transportation traffic

• include the best practices of a Complete Streets approach, including how to build equity, implementation, and other key tenets into their plans

FHWA is administered by Stephanie Pollack. Her office phone number is (202) 366-2240. FHWA can also be contacted by email, by phone at (202) 366-0660, and by mail at

Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20590

Congress

In terms of transportation, congress is responsible for funding grants, authorizing the transportation program, and directing federal agencies. Deadly by Design has recommendations for each of these powers:

• fully fund the Healthy Streets Program, the Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program, and others like RAISE that support safety improvements

• don’t wait five more years until the next transportation authorization is due to make changes to the federal transportation program as a whole to ensure there is no flexibility to undercut or underfund clearly needed safety improvements

• direct USDOT and FHWA to release stronger rules and guidance on protecting vulnerable road users

Greater Pittsburgh is currently represented in congress by two senators and six representatives.

Senator Bob Casey

• Email

• Pittsburgh office phone: (412) 803-7370

• Pittsburgh office address: 310 Grant Street, Suite 2415, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Senator John Fetterman

• Email

• As of this writing, Senator Fetterman has yet to open his Pittsburgh office. This will be updated as soon as that information changes.

Representatives will be discussed in county and local recommendations.

State

State recommendations fall on state-level elected officials and statewide department personnel. Dangerous by Design recommendations for these groups include:

• prioritize safe access to destinations for people walking on streets in developed areas, whether big urban areas or rural villages

• work with local land-use authorities to better connect communities and shorten the distances between key destinations

• treat walking and biking as important modes for everyday transportation, not merely leisure activities

• use every available dollar to fund safety projects like traffic calming, slower road design, and pedestrian infrastructure

The only statewide elected official overseeing transportation is Governor Josh Shapiro. Governor Shapiro’s office can be contacted by email, by phone at (717) 787-2500, and by mail at

Office of the Governor
508 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Transportation policy is managed in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). PennDOT is lead by Secretary of Transportation Mike Carroll. The PennDOT Central Office can be reached by email, by phone at (717) 787-2838, and by mail at

PA Department of Transportation
Keystone Building
400 North St., Fifth Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Contacts for PennDOT districts will be discussed in county and local recommendations.

Cities and Localities

Recommendations and contacts for cities and localities will be discussed in county and local recommendations.

IV. The most dangerous places to walk in Greater Pittsburgh

Counties