What would a socially-distanced downtown State College look like? Options are in the works

Downtown State College could look a lot different come fall with the return of Penn State students and in pursuit of accommodating social distancing recommendations.

During Monday’s virtual State College Borough Council, a plan was presented for potential infrastructure adjustments to downtown as the COVID-19 pandemic persists.

Edward LeClear, the planning director for the borough, gave a brief presentation to the council on the “State College Pedestrian Safety & Social Distancing Project,” which was not up for a vote but rather a conceptual-level brainstorm for council members to think about and provide feedback.

The purpose of the project, according to LeClear, is to utilize space adjacent to the curb on existing streets to make social distancing easier and “make downtown a comfortable, safe destination to visit until issues surrounding the pandemic decrease.”

“I think we all know that we’re limited by a very linear downtown, with very narrow streets relatively speaking,” he said. “This is something that’s been a team effort, from our engineering department, parking, planning and communications.”

Considerations include expanded pedestrian walkways to encourage social distancing, additional bike lanes and loading and unloading spaces for curbside pickup and drop-off.

LeClear said that other cities and municipalities have used or are currently using adjusted sidewalks and streets efficiently in the fight against the coronavirus.

A few weeks ago, the Downtown State College Improvement District surveyed business owners in the area to gauge opinions on potential changes to the downtown landscape.

The survey received 86 responses, with roughly 60 percent in support of changes to improve safety measures and “possibly allowing for some opportunities for commerce.”

College and Beaver avenues are both PennDOT right-of-way roads, which means the borough itself cannot do much in terms of adjusting how they function from a traffic standpoint.

The primary street of focus to begin with, and a likely “test subject” for the project in its fledgling stages, would be Allen Street, LeClear said.

The sidewalks on both sides of Allen could be widened to accommodate safe social distancing for pedestrians, and the road itself could be converted into a 14 feet wide, one-way street southbound from Beaver to College. All street parking could also be removed as a result of the adjustment.

Beaver and College could also be potentially adjusted to take away the parking lanes and convert them into wider pedestrian sidewalks.

“This was very much understood to be a temporary, only for the life of the COVID emergency, and also something that we would be testing,” LeClear said. “If it was not working, or created unintended consequences, we could remove those restrictions quickly.”

How exactly the adjustments would be made is still being discussed and options are being considered, such as repainting the streets to match the desired use on each block of downtown and water and concrete barriers taking the place of a sidewalk curb in high traffic areas.

The projected costs of all the projects could total over $350,000, with a large portion of those costs coming from adjusting Beaver and College.

Council members did not immediately embrace the idea, with councilwoman Janet Engeman concerned about whether losing the parking on Allen and potentially Beaver and College was factored into the projected costs of the project. LeClear said potential funds made from parking meters were not factored in.

Councilwoman Theresa Lafer said she supports using Allen Street as a test, but is opposed to potentially doing anything with Beaver or College.

“I cannot see anyone who would think at this point it would be reasonable to spend 300 some odd thousand dollars to change College and Beaver,” Lafer said.

She said while widening the sidewalks is “all well and good,” she does not anticipate Penn State students returning in the fall will follow proper guidelines anyway, saying they are going to “take up every inch of pedestrian space that we allow them.”

Following up on not having faith in the student population to properly abide by public health guidelines, Lafer said that “based on the behavior” of what she’s seen the past two weekends, she doesn’t think they will wear masks, especially not on campus. It is unclear if she meant in regards to protests or general student population returning to town.

“Maybe they will stay safer than I expect. But I think the idea that we can get six feet, or four feet or even two feet between people, is a fantasy,” Lafer said. “With that many students in town, there is no way we can make it safe to walk on our sidewalks, it’s just physically not possible even if we close down the streets entirely.”

Mayor Ronald Filippelli additionally expressed concerns over potentially losing one side of parking on College Avenue, but LeClear reiterated that everything is still being contextualized and calculated in terms of what that would mean both from a population standpoint and financially with the loss of the parking meters.

Councilman Peter Marshall said that while the situation may not be ideal, without a vaccine, all they can do is try to prevent its spread through measures like these.

“We have no vaccine or anything for COVID, and the only two things that we can do to slow the infection are social distancing and masks, so we are thinking about people and the safety of people in State College by allowing more room for pedestrians,” Marshall said. “Maybe it won’t stop (COVID), but it’s the two things we can do to stop it from spreading.”