City Council last night made several moves to improve Harrisburg’s infrastructure, though only one such move will be immediately obvious to residents.
Council approved measures that address parking issues on S. 18th Street, bus stop locations and citywide roadway issues.
Automobiles will no longer be able to park on the west side of S. 18th Street between Derry and Berryhill streets. The ordinance that passed last night was in response to resident complaints about parked tractor-trailers blocking the roadway.
City workers are slated to paint a double yellow line so that automobiles will only be able to park on one side of the street, said City Councilman Cornelius Johnson, chairman of the Public Safety Committee.
The city also will address issues with bus stop placement and shelter structures. Council hired a consultant, Mechanicsburg-based Delta Development Group, to determine how to make bus stops along Market, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th streets more efficiently placed and more accessible for people with disabilities.
The group plans to look at how the current bus stops affect traffic flow. For example, bus stops on corners cause automobiles to enter unsafe situations to navigate around the buses, Johnson said.
“If doing this allows for better bus stops and traffic to flow better, [and] it’d affect [bus] ridership, I think it’s a good idea,” Johnson said.
The consultant group will hold community meetings to allow residents to share concerns and thoughts. The project costs $129,527 according to the consultant agreement.
City roadways will receive extra attention as council approved a measure to create a comprehensive database of roads. IMS Infrastructure Management Services, LLC will use GIS mapping technology to give city officials information on potholes, broken pavement and the lifespan of roads, said Councilman Westburn Majors, chairman of the Public Works Committee.
“Essentially, we are doing a study of all the streets in the city,” Majors said.
The city-wide mapping project will help officials prioritize areas for maintenance and capital improvements, per the resolution. This project marks the first comprehensive road-mapping project in at least 10 years, Majors said.
The consultant agreement budgeted this project for $36,013.
Yesterday also marked the beginning a street sweeping contract between Hazleton-based DBi Services and Capital Region Water. Therefore, DBi Services is now responsible for cleaning Harrisburg’ streets in accordance with posted street signs.
The city continues to provide snow removal, leaf collection and trash removal services. The city and Park Harrisburg are still in charge of parking enforcement and ticketing. Residents can find a live-updated map tracking street sweeper’s progress in the city, plus contact information for street sweeping issues, on Capital Region Water’s website.
Author: Danielle Roth
