We’re a little behind on our updates for maintenance completions:
- The bridge between Millheim and Coburn opened a few weeks ago.
- PennDOT’s section of Whitehall Rd. from Atherton to W. College was completed last week. That section features 6 ft wide bike lanes along its length.
- Ferguson Township’s section from W. College to Tadpole Rd. featuring 4 foot shoulders and removal of blind curves, is to be completed this week (today, actually, but we don’t have confirmation of that, yet)
- The bridge across Penn’s Creek near Beaver Dam Road will open Thursday, weather conditions for the week permitting.
Now, those of you who know me know I can’t pass up an opportunity for a teaching moment. ;) With the opening of Whitehall Rd in Ferguson, we now have a safer route to the southwest than ever before. This is a vast improvement of a road that had no shoulders and many washouts. The residents of Ferguson Twp were reluctant to fund even that and it’s only thanks to the supervisors’, planners’ and engineers’ perseverance that we got the four feet. However, a four foot wide shoulder is only wide enough for one cyclist. Please be good visitors to the Township and stay single file on that section. You’ll be safer and the residents will appreciate no longer having to dodge around single cyclists let alone those riding two abreast. There are plenty of miles of more suitable, quieter roadways past Tadpole where you can resume your social rides. Remember, sharing the road works both ways.