Concerned community members have responded to the recent death of a bicyclist in State College with anguish and continued calls for safety and infrastructure improvements.
Jose Sajbin, a 36-year-old husband and father of two, was traveling on the bicycle path crossing Edgewood Circle at about 7:55 p.m. on June 9 when he was struck by a 16-year-old driving a sedan. He died the following day at UPMC Altoona, where he was flown for treatment.
The cause of the crash is being investigated by State College police. A department spokesperson has not yet responded to a message seeking an update on the status of the investigation
“My heart hurts for his family and his friends,” State College Mayor Ezra Nanes, an avid cyclist and advocate for bike infrastructure improvements, said during an emotional statement at last week’s borough council meeting. “…One death is too many and our entire community mourns the loss of this community member.”
Sajbin’s death has been met with an outpouring of community support. A GoFundMe started by a friend of Sajbin’s family on June 11 has raised nearly $24,000 from 451 donations to help pay for funeral costs and Sajbin’s repatriation to his native Guatemala.
It’s also cast a brighter spotlight on what has long been called for by many cyclists and community members: increased investments in safety measures and infrastructure for bicycling and other non-motor-vehicle transportation.
“The absolute worst outcome of not building this infrastructure happened and a cyclist was killed by a car in our town,” said Matt Herndon, a Tusseyview neighborhood resident and regular advocate for bike facilities during council and planning commission meetings.
“I’m just again advocating that we do something. One death is far too many.”
Herndon called for elevated bike paths, at the Greentree neighborhood crossing where Sajbin was fatally injured and elsewhere. Nanes added that bike lanes should be painted in a distinguishing color.
Neither is included in bicycle facility maintenance or street resurfacing projects listed in the proposed 2023-27 capital improvement plan, but Public Works Director Sam Robbins said the measures could be a part of other planned transportation projects.
The borough has already issued a request for proposals for a comprehensive mobility study and staff expected to begin interviewing consultants in the coming weeks, Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said.
The mobility study will “integrate borough plans, policies and ordinances by hiring a consultant to develop a safe, reliable, equitable, integrated and connected multi-modal transportation system that will enable access, mobility, sustainability, economic development and health and well-being for residents and visitors,” Robbins said.
It will build on earlier planning efforts, with differentiation for the downtown and residential neighborhoods.
“This plan will provide a consistent method of addressing pedestrian and bicycle safety and means of transport regardless of location,” Robbins said.
Among other related initiatives in the proposed CIP is a project that dates back to the 2014 Downtown Master Plan to improve the downtown-campus corridor. The estimated $3 million project would include bike lanes, bulb-outs, crosswalks and expanded sidewalks in the area of College Avenue and Allen Street, as well as streetscape improvements including a road diet, pavement treatments, street trees and bulb-outs in the area of Beaver Avenue and Allen Street. The borough has submitted a grant request to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey seeking $2.4 million in federal funding for the project.
Another bicycle and pedestrian project is pending for 2023. The borough recently received a $1.1 million state grant for the construction of a shared-use path on the south side of Easterly/Westerly Parkway between the Orchard Park and University Drive, and a shared-use path along Blue Course Drive between Whitehall Road and Orchard Park bike path.
Maintenance of existing bike and walking trails over the next four years, meanwhile, will include asphalt repairs and seal coating.
“I just want to remind borough council that you hold the power to make decisions to create environments where these incidents don’t happen,” resident Christian Kurpiel-Wakamiya said. “They’re not accidents. They’re policy decisions.”
Kurpiel-Wakamiya is a bicyclist and regular advocate for measures to improve safety in the Centre Region. As a father who uses his bicycle to get himself and his kids around the area, he said Sabjin’s death “strikes home.”
“You can build infrastructure that physically slows drivers, that protects cyclists and… pedestrians over the convenience of drivers,” he said.
Sabjin was struck in a relatively quiet residential neighborhood that ends in a cul-de-sac, but Herndon and Kurpiel-Wakamiya said that particular crossing is in need of improvements for visibility and elevation and that it is utilized by cross-borough cyclists and neighborhood children.
“I hope it’s not glossed off as an accident but actually investigated and we work to harden that particular intersection so that it never happens again,” Kurpiel-Wakamiya said. “Let’s learn from this crash.”
Herndon suggested it is illustrative of improvements needed throughout the borough.
“There could be action taken and I’m just here to again ask that we take that action, because this is exactly the thing that we’ve been warning would happen and here it did,” Herndon said. “This should be one of the safer places and yet it’s still not safe enough. There are things we can do and we must do them. I encourage council to take real action on this. This is literally a member of our community killed and we need to stop just accepting it.”
Nanes has often promoted a bikeable and walkable State College among his priorities as mayor. He urged council to “lean heavily to lean into the bike and pedestrian safety projects,” in the proposed CIP.
“My personal, repeated talking about pedestrian and bike safety is very serious business and I want us to take action to respond to this tragedy and to continue to prioritize those investments so that this is the last time this will happen in our community,” Nanes said. “I place no blame, I only call us all to action.”
