The Voice

Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: David Jonathan

When strolling through downtown Bloomsburg, especially with the winter months approaching, delayed traffic signals are the last thing students and residents of the town want to deal with.
"It's not a good situation," said student Will Murtha, a downtown resident. "The lights are too short even to make it halfway across and the turning traffic goes at the same time."
Murtha added that beyond the inconvenience of the lights, someone could get hurt.
Over the past several months, the downtown area has been under a lot of construction, and as a result has gone through several changes. However, the traffic signals seem to have been neglected in the upgrading process
"Traffic engineers from Penn Dot and the engineers that designed the project are continually reviewing the Main Street project," said Chief of Police Leo Sokoloski, in response to several complaints that have come into Town Hall.
In addition Officer Sokoloski said, "As with any new project there are expected issues that need to be revised and modified. For the most part, the project with street lights, traffic lights, sidewalks, curbing, and pedestrian walks works well. Change is a positive thing; people resist change and new traffic-pedestrian patterns."
Student Dan Wilson disagrees with the new changes.
"The new traffic signals aren't be any better than the old ones because they still don't give you enough time to cross," he said.
Officer Sokoloski also added that education is key to these new changes.
"Police have conducted education - awareness by distributing Penn Dot Highway Safety bulletins in the downtown area to pedestrians, as many simply were not accustomed to the new signals or were not pushing the button to cross the intersections," he said. "Police have monitored vehicle speeds and conducted enforcement events to acclimate motorists to the new signals as well."

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