In Overbrook Park, neighbors worry about traffic lights

STEPHANIE FOMAN had just gotten off the bus at her regular stop on Haverford Avenue, looked up, and noticed there was no longer a light at Sherwood Avenue in Overbrook Park.

When she tried to cross the street, she said: "I almost got hit. I had to stand in the middle of the road, waving my arms to get the cars to stop."

Freda Frazier, a retiree, also blasted the removal of three traffic lights along Haverford - at Sherwood Avenue, Rhoads Street, and Malvern Avenue about two weeks ago.

"This is starting to look like Roosevelt Boulevard out here," Frazier said. "I walk for my exercise. I see how the cars are zooming by. If I had to cross the street, they [the cars] don't yield. They don't pay attention to the signs. It's dangerous and I can't run across the street."

The two women were among 200 people at an emergency Overbrook Park Town Watch meeting Thursday evening to talk to elected officials about a traffic-improvement plan they claim has resulted in hazardous conditions for pedestrians - especially for children and senior citizens.

"We knew that PennDot said they wanted to improve the flow of traffic," town watch president Darryl Day said. "But we didn't think they were going to take down those traffic lights and replace them with those little yellow blinking lights they call beacons."

PennDot spokesman Richard Kirkpatrick said the traffic project is federally funded and requires all upgraded traffic signals along Haverford be "warranted as part of the design review process."

He said the city Streets Department did an analysis that showed the three intersections did not meet standards for lights.

On Friday, Richard Montanez, the Streets Department's chief traffic and street-lighting engineer, said the department has heard the neighbors' and elected officials' concerns.

"We are sending engineers back there next week to redo the study," Montanez said. He said the problem is that motorists are not following the law by yielding to pedestrians.

"We are not trying to put something that's not safe in the community," Montanez said. "We asked my engineers to make it a top priority."

He said he expects the results of the new study by April 15.

City Councilman Curtis Jones, among several officials at the Thursday meeting, said: "Those lights are coming back. If I have to seek capital funds to pay for them, those lights are coming back."

The town watch meeting, held at the Overbrook Park Public Library, was hosted by U.S. Rep. Robert Brady and State Rep. Lynwood Savage.

It drew so many people that it was shifted from an overcrowded room inside the library to an area at the front entrance, at Haverford and Woodbine.

One of the new traffic lights with audible prompts for visually impaired pedestrians is at the library intersection.

Standing outside, Brady pointed across the street and said: "This is my neighborhood. I grew up just over there.

"I'm going to do whatever I can to see why those [other] lights were removed," he added.

After the meeting, a number of the town watch members, dressed in neon-green T-shirts and carrying signs, walked down Haverford to Malvern Avenue, where there was a large flashing sign warning motorists to watch out for pedestrians. They waved the signs at cars to get drivers to slow down.

Marilyn McCleary, who lives near the library, said removing the lights shows more focus on helping commuters drive faster on Haverford than concern for residents' safety.

"These commuters are coming from outside the city, and they speed down Haverford on their way downtown," said McCleary, who is disabled.

She was seated in a chair in front of her house as she directed four of her grandchildren, ages 6 to 10, to plant seeds for flowers in the front yard.

"Those lights are so important, and there are so many children in this area. Lamberton [Elementary School] is just across Haverford," McCleary said. "I just hope that no child's life is the cost paid to get those lights back."

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