U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has proposed a bill to make streets safer, citing Harrisburg as once being home to the “deadliest road in America” and the traffic fallout of the Interstate 95 collapse in Philadelphia.
“The recent disaster on I-95 and the subsequent detour to the already dangerous Roosevelt Boulevard was a stark reminder of the perilous roads that run through our towns,” Fetterman said in a statement that also referenced Harrisburg’s risky State Street, which exerts said was the nation’s most dangerous road in 2018.
Fetterman’s Shovel-Ready Streets Act will amend the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program provides grants for redesigning dangerous streets and improving safety, but currently requires at least 40% of funding go toward the redesign planning process.
A statement from Fetterman said that many cities have planned for improvements for years and have already completed the planning process, so the bill would decrease the percentage of funds for planning to 20%, leaving more money for construction.
“Safe streets are a life and death issue,” Fetterman said in his statement. “Though these deaths rarely make headlines, the hundreds of Pennsylvanian lives we lose due to unsafe streets is unacceptable, and it doesn’t have to be this way.”
Fetterman’s statement said that “Pennsylvania is home to some of the most unsafe streets in the nation,” pointing to Roosevelt Boulevard and State Street. It added that between 2012 and 2020, 1,426 pedestrians were killed in the state.
A summary of Fetterman’s bill said that pedestrian fatalities have reached a 40-year high with seniors, children, people with disabilities and minorities most at-risk to be hit while walking or living in communities with unsafe streets.
At least 75 people have died on Roosevelt Boulevard since 2016 and 119 others have been seriously injured, the summary said.
