3 Downtown State College Streets Set to Become One-Way for Pilot Program

Three downtown State College streets will be converted to one-way starting next week in a pilot program aimed at increasing parking spaces and loading zones.

Beginning Aug. 31, Hiester Street will be one-way northbound (toward East College Avenue), Sowers Street one-way southbound (toward East Beaver Avenue) and Hetzel Street one-way northbound.

By eliminating one lane of traffic, the change will result in 22 additional parking spaces and six loading zones, according to information presented to Borough Council over the summer.

“As Downtown State College continues to experience increased redevelopment, density and traffic, the Borough remains committed to making travel more efficient and safer for pedestrians and motorists,” the borough wrote in a news release. “This one-way pilot will help achieve these goals.”

The pilot is planned for six months, but could be extended for another six months if more time is needed for evaluation. It can also be ended at any time if safety issues for motorists and pedestrians arise, according to the borough.

At a Transportation Commission meeting in May, Parking Department supervisor of operations Matthew Pieper said the plan would also help to address “extremely dangerous and unsafe parking actions” that have been observed in the area on the eastern side of downtown.

“In this area of town, what we often see is people waiting on the wrong side of the road for pick-ups and drop-offs,” he said. “We have a lot of semis and folks like that sitting on Beaver and Garner, creating a lot of unsafe situations. This is just an idea to help clear out all of that while giving more legal space for people to do their operations.”

Each of the streets has “relatively low traffic volumes that are well under the street classification threshold,” Ron Seybert, borough transportation engineer, wrote in a memo. Intersections at both ends of each street are stop-controlled, so there is no impact on traffic signals.

The Downtown State College Improvement District and Retail Advisory Committee both expressed support for the one-way conversions, Parking Department director Tom Brown said in May.

The initial proposal presented to council in June would have also included making Locust Lane one-way southbound, creating two pairs of alternating one-way streets. Locust Lane was ultimately removed before approval.

Because Locust Lane south of Beaver Avenue is one-way northbound, making the 100 block one-way southbound “cuts off a critical bike route,” council member Matt Herndon said.

Herndon added that while he believed the one-way change would improve safety on the other three streets, he worried that would not be the case on Locust Lane, with greater potential for drivers and cyclists going the wrong.

For the streets that are included, testing the one-way conversions through a pilot program will allow an opportunity to conduct the traffic analysis required for a permanent change.

At the conclusion of the six-month pilot, staff will present a report to council, which can then extend the pilot, make the changes permanent or revert the streets to two-ways.