Project manager Percy Bullock explains the 2nd Street project to the press on Wednesday.
Harrisburg is on track to complete the conversion of 2nd Street to two-way traffic by year-end, the city said today.
In a press conference on Wednesday morning, the city’s project manager, Percy Bullock, offered an update on the long-anticipated project. While the project will continue through late October or early November, the switch over to two-way traffic is slated for mid-June.
“It’ll start looking good in about two to three weeks because we’ll start paving,” Bullock said.
Harrisburg converted 2nd Street to one-way traffic in the 1950s, turning the road from a neighborhood street to a high-speed throughway. For decades, city officials proposed reversing the move, stating that it mainly benefitted suburban commuters at the expense of city residents’ quality of life.
Finally, in 2019, the city finalized plans to return the street, from Forster to Division streets, to two-way traffic. Last May, the city kicked off the project and, since then, ADA-compliant ramps have been constructed at most intersections. The road milling process began last week.
Besides making the street two-way, the plan calls for constructing three new roundabouts, building a number of turn lanes, installing new, brighter street lamps and implementing pedestrian- and bike-friendly elements. In addition, Forster Street between Front and N. 2nd streets will be narrowed to eliminate one of the turn lanes.
Some of this work, including the new roundabouts at Verbeke, Reily and Kelker streets, will come after the initial paving work and the conversion to two-way traffic in June.
The ultimate aim, Bullock said, is to improve safety in line with the city’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate pedestrian fatalities on its roads.
“We have a lot of accidents on the street; we’ve had some fatalities,” he said. “We’re trying to reduce that.”
In addition, the city hopes to provide a better quality of life for people who live in the area by turning the high-speed corridor into a neighborhood road with less traffic at much slower speeds.
“We want to give an opportunity for the people, the residents in the area to see some growth in their homes and hopefully bring in some new businesses, as well,” he said.
In the meantime, Bullock urged patience for residents inconvenienced by the construction, which has reduced parking and created noise and dust.
“It is an inconvenience,” he said. “I compare it to a bad storm at the beginning, but there’s a bright day in the future. When we get to that point, everybody’s going to be loving it.”
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