Median strip not a good example

The News and Commentary article titled "Planners Suggest Harrisburg Pike Improvements" contains the following statement about what the article calls non-traversable medians.

"Medians can reduce the likelihood of head-on crashes, provide traffic calming benefits, promote pedestrian safety and can aid in prohibiting left-turn movements. The recently installed median between College Avenue and Race Street is a good example of this application."

This last sentence of the statement is not true. The median strip between College Avenue and Race Street [Avenue] does not meet any of the listed criteria.

1. On head-on crashes: A summary of crashes in the just-released Harrisburg Pike and Land Use Study shows that over a 5-yr. period there were 113 crashes at the College Square parking lot exit (opposite Williamson Field parking lot.) That number included 39 Angle, 57 Rear-End and 6 Hit-Fixed-Object. None of these were head-on crashes. Medians are placed on multi-lane and high speed roads for the purpose of preventing head-on crashes. A median was not needed on this 35 mph roadway with only one lane in each direction plus a center lane.

2. On traffic calming benefits : The Harrisburg Pike and Land Use Study, page 6, contains a Travel Time Study that has this statement: "Average travel speeds across the corridor during both peak periods are approximately 16 mph less than the optimal for both directions of travel." Besides this, vehicles traveling between Race and College Avenues tend to move slower than the rest of the Harrisburg Pike Corridor due to the 3 traffic lights in just one block! Much of the day, cars appear to be crawling on that stretch of Harrisburg Pike.

3. On promote pedestrian safety: Medians are used at intersections in some large cities as a "safe haven" for pedestrians in crossing a wide thoroughfare. That is not the purpose with this median because it is located in the middle of the block between intersections. It was designed to keep pedestrians, most of whom are F&M students, from crossing where they should NOT be crossing, that is, jaywalking. Motorists have reported that students are still crossing at places other than at intersections. One motorist said he saw a student jumping over the median!

4. On prohibiting left-turn movements: This statement does not apply to this situation. Left turns are only possible to enter the parking lots at College Square and Williamson Field and the turning lanes are clearly marked.

Medians can do the things mentioned above, when constructed in the right place. But Harrisburg Pike between College and Race Avenues is not the right place for a median. Many motorists from the City and County believe that this median strip is an unnecessary obstruction to the normal flow of traffic on Harrisburg Pike. Ambulances and other emergency vehicles are particularly adversely affected because the center lane that they formerly used as a fast response lane is now blocked.

The obvious reason for this median is image. John Fry, president of F&M College, wrote about a gateway to the College from Harrisburg Pike in his Strategic Planning White Paper (January 27, 2003). The median is also designed to visually link the Main Campus with the new North Campus. It is to give Harrisburg Pike the appearance of a campus road, which College officials would obviously like to have it become.