Council tables WalkWorks bike plan after presentation; members ask for full plan and ADA review

City consultants presented the WalkWorks bicycle plan to Allentown City Council on Wednesday, describing an inventory of existing facilities, a safety analysis and a proposed network of protected lanes, bike boulevards and shared markings.

Chris Stanford of Michael Baker (presentation lead) said the city currently has one dedicated bike lane (Mac Boulevard, about one mile) and roughly 12 miles of shared-lane markings. The study identified gaps in on-street connectivity and noted an increase in bicycle crashes — from 16 in 2020 to 28 in 2023. The consulting team proposed a menu of treatments including buffered bike lanes, parking-protected lanes, concrete separators and bicycle boulevards that rely on low-speed residential streets and traffic-calming measures.

Stanford said project costs and implementation would be phased, with recommendations to pursue resurfacing restriping opportunities and state and federal grants. He also recommended more bicycle-counting, better lighting (more than 25% of crashes occurred at night), improved way-finding and coordination with LANTA bus routes.

Council members raised several concerns. Councilwoman Gerlach asked whether the resolution's language — which references walking, wheelchairs and transit as well as bicycling — accurately reflected the study’s scope; consultants and staff said the study was a bicycle plan funded through WalkWorks and did not evaluate wheelchair or ADA issues in depth. Members said wheelchair and pedestrian access should be analyzed in parallel and that the resolution should not suggest the city has completed that work if it has not.

Several council members also asked for the full plan prior to adopting a resolution. One member moved and a colleague seconded a motion to table the resolution so councilors could review the full document and allow staff time to answer questions about e-bikes, sidewalks, crosswalks, and specific corridors such as MLK and Jefferson Street. The motion to table carried with support from multiple council members.

Public commenters asked that electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters be considered and requested clearer analysis of areas like MLK, where traffic volume and event traffic create safety concerns. A consultant clarified the city’s directive was to prepare a citywide bicycle plan; he said ADA and wheelchair issues are legitimate topics for later planning and for project-level engineering.

Council members left the meeting with a directive to circulate the complete WalkWorks plan to all members before resuming consideration, and to provide additional analysis on ADA/wheelchair interactions, e-bike policy and corridor-specific traffic studies before final adoption.