The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recently alerted State College pedestrians they will not be allowed to cross at a heavily trafficked intersection.
Through the month of September, pedestrians are prohibited from crossing the intersection at Park Avenue and North Atherton Street.
Marc Maney, PennDOT’s Transportation Construction Inspector Supervisor,said their main priority is the safety of pedestrians.
“Safety is one of the biggest things that we look at in our design process when we’re out there constructing a project. We perform weekly safety reviews on the project,” Maney said.
Pedestrians are being instructed to use crosswalks at nearby intersections at Aaron Drive, North Hills Place, Blue Course Drive, Cherry Lane, Hillcrest Avenue and Curtin Road.
State College resident Leeland Glenna crossed at the intersection despite the closure on a recent afternoon. He expressed confusion and frustration about the closure.
“I have no doubt that their thinking is to promote traffic flow more than they care about the local people who live here,” Glenna said.
PennDOT says it has no plans to close anymore crosswalks until the project is completed in November.
