Purpose
The purpose of the project is to improve the pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and passenger vehicle connection of the Erie Central Business District and adjacent neighborhoods to the waterfront property north of the Bayfront Parkway (SR 4034), to reduce crashes as much as practical on the Bayfront Parkway, to improve future congestion to an acceptable level of service or delay, and to improve traffic operations and efficiency.
Needs
- Mobility:
- Multimodal transportation connections between Downtown Erie and the Bayfront (north/south) are lacking.
- The Bayfront Parkway has limited existing transit service in the project area.
- Lack of consistent pedestrian and bicycle facilities along, or parallel to, the Bayfront Parkway.
- Lack of viable connections for pedestrians and bicycles between downtown and surrounding neighborhoods to the Bayfront.*
- The Bayfront Parkway acts as a barrier to pedestrians and bicyclists traveling from downtown Erie to the Bayfront area.*
- Crashes:
- 80 crashes within the project limits over a 5-year period.
- The locations with the crashes were as follows:
- 15 crashes occurred at the intersection of the Bayfront Parkway and Sassafras Street.
- 39 crashes occurred at the intersection of the Bayfront Parkway and State Street. (3 of these crashes involved pedestrians)
- 26 crashes occurred at the intersection of the Bayfront Parkway and Holland Street.
- Operations & Efficiency:
- Existing level-of-service (LOS) for the intersection of State Street and the Bayfront Parkway is “D” for the AM peak and future year LOS is projected to be an “F” with proposed Bayfront Development.
- Future years LOS are projected to be LOS of “D” or worse at the intersections of the Bayfront Parkway and Sassafras Street Extension, State Street, and Holland Street.
- Limited gaps for left turning vehicles along the Bayfront Parkway.
* The Erie Waterfront Master Plan Summary Report, March 2009; Erie Refocused, March 2016; Bayfront Parkway Study, June 2017
Updated on January 14, 2019