Elected officials, business owners and residents from Verona and Oakmont gathered Sept. 27 to walk from the Off the Rails restaurant in Verona to College Avenue in Oakmont and back again for a Verona Borough walk audit.
Trish Hredzak, vice president of Verona council, set up the audit after there was some divide from residents and committee members about the VOPP Trail bike path planned at the intersection of Center Avenue and Allegheny River Boulevard and the viaduct connecting Oakmont to Verona. Despite discussions of rerouting the path, there are still issues with the viaduct that need to be solved, Hredzak said.
“Even if we reroute (the bike path), we can’t forget about the viaduct,” Hredzak said.
She said the council has received multiple complaints about the stretch of road, including the condition of its crosswalks, speeding motorists and safety concerns while walking along the road. The roadway was designed in the 1930s and changes from two lanes to five lanes and then back to two lanes in less than a mile.
Hredzak said she had multiple conversations with state Rep. Joe McAndrew, D-Penn Hills, through which the VOPP Trail will run. After a few conversations, she suggested the walk audit to get first-hand opinions from residents.
“We wanted to think of (solutions) from a non-motorist perspective,” Hredzak said.
The day of the walk audit, 50 people, including government officials, business owners, residents of Oakmont and Verona and Riverview students attended the event.
Officials included state Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forrest Hills, Allegheny County councilman Nick Futules, Riverview School District superintendent Neil English and McAndrew.
Attendees were split into four groups to make the almost mile-long trek. Some members of the group were given strollers, walkers, wheelchairs or canes to use during the walk to give an accurate perspective of what it would be like to walk with those additions.
Riverview student Eli DeVita, 18, pushed a stroller during the audit. He expressed how difficult it was for him to maneuver the stroller over cobblestones and around potholes while crossing the street. He said it was difficult to find a place to walk off the sidewalk onto the road to cross the street at Center and Allegheny River Boulevard without being placed in front of traffic.
“There’s some really strange geometry at Center and Allegheny River Boulevard,” said Craig Toocheck, an employee of Pittsburgh Regional Transit who attended the audit to discuss methods to make bus stops fit with crosswalk placements or edits in the borough.
DeVita was joined by classmates Renton Biondich, 17, and Cailey Trosch, 17. Trosch used a walker during the study and expressed the same difficulties as DeVita.
Hredzak said nine students attended the audit. Trosch said she and the other seniors attended the event for their civics class — for class they are required to attend a council meeting, but the walking audit counted as a replacement event.
Suzie Davis, 69, of Verona had complaints about how faded the crosswalks are on the road.
“My husband and I are crossing guards down here,” Davis said. “People don’t pay attention. They blow the red light on my husband (at the intersection of South Avenue and Allegheny River Boulevard) all the time. As a crossing guard, you see a lot.”
The group also discovered that some sidewalk ramps were pointed in the wrong direction for visually impaired people trying to cross the street safely.
During the walk, participants were asked to check off boxes for how easy the route was for walking and make suggestions for traffic deterrents such as on-street parking and mid-block crosswalks.
After the audit, Hredzak asked participants to fill out a survey to see what residents want prioritized.
“It’s always good to check in with your base,” Hredzak said.
Leann Chaney, senior active transportation planner with the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, helped Hredzak to organize the audit.
“Without (SPC’s) guidance, I would have no idea how to organize this,” Hredzak said. “Without them, it would not have been as well orchestrated.”
The results of the survey will be used in future road studies in the borough.
View the full story at triblive.com.