<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman;"></span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A new word was added to the official Danish dictionary last year. Speaking at Velo-City 2009 in Brussels, </span>Copenhagen mayor Klaus Bondam, said “schottelkot” (bicycle congestion) entered the Danish lexicon because rush hour bike commuters in larger Danish cities sometimes wait through 2 or 3 red light cycles at major intersections. Bondam described the phenomenon as a sign of the city’s successful policy of promoting cycling and walking over car use. He went on to outline Copenhagen’s plan to alleviate bike congestion by taking more space from cars for bicycle infrastructure.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While some city governments work for solutions to scottelkot, government is behind the source of this summer’s major impediment to bike traffic flow in College Township. Cyclists and Pedestrians have been asking why a bike path tunnel has been closed for construction for over six weeks when no work is being done in the tunnel. </span></span></p>
A new word was added to the official Danish dictionary last year. Speaking at Velo-City 2009 in Brussels, Copenhagen mayor Klaus Bondam, said “schottelkot” (bicycle congestion) entered the Danish lexicon because rush hour bike commuters in larger Danish cities sometimes wait through 2 or 3 red light cycles at major intersections. Bondam described the phenomenon as a sign of the city’s successful policy of promoting cycling and walking over car use. He went on to outline Copenhagen’s plan to alleviate bike congestion by taking more space from cars for bicycle infrastructure.
While some city governments work for solutions to scottelkot, government is behind the source of this summer’s major impediment to bike traffic flow in College Township. Cyclists and Pedestrians have been asking why a bike path tunnel has been closed for construction for over six weeks when no work is being done in the tunnel.
The College Township Bikeway paralleling the highway 322 bypass is the major access route to campus and downtown for bike commuters living in the eastern part of State College. Since June 15, the bikeway has been bisected by closure of the tunnel carrying it and Slab Cabin Run beneath College Avenue between the College Township municipal building and the bypass. The closure is part of a project to use purified wastewater as a heat source for the township building by tapping into University Area Joint Authority beneficial wastewater reuse pipes south of the tunnel. The connection will also serve the new College Township Alpha fire department substation. Two years ago UAJA tore up the path from the tunnel to Centre Hills Country Club to install the pipes. That project was carefully planned by UAJA for mid-winter to minimize impact on path users. College Township’s project has closed the path during the season of heaviest use. I interviewed Adam Brumbaugh, College Township Manager on July 29. He admitted that levels of path use and timing of the closure were not considered when the project was planned and approved by the township council. Moreover, he confirmed that the project does not involve any work in the tunnel itself. He had just come from a meeting in which he learned that major obstacles encountered by the contractor in creating a separate tunnel to carry the pipes under College Ave. have caused delays that will keep the path tunnel closed indefinitely. 
Signs announcing that the tunnel would be closed June 15 were posted on the bikeway on June 8, leading bike commuters to believe the closure would be for one day only. The College Township Parks and Recreation Committee oversees maintenance of the bike paths. According to two committee members I interviewed, the committee was not notified of the project or the planned path closure. According to Brumbaugh, the tunnel closure was to last no more than three weeks while a short segment of path in front of the tunnel was dug up for pipe connections to be placed. After closing the path, however, the contractor did not follow the work order, so the connections have still not been made, and the path remains closed. Brumbaugh mentioned the possibility of reopening the path until the contractor gets to that part of the job, but no decision had been made at the time of our interview. Here are some other questions I put to Brumbaugh, and summaries of his responses:
Question: In 2000, in response to the alarming rise in obesity and related diseases, the U.S. Surgeon General and the Centers for Disease Control issued a Call to Action to all levels of government to provide and maintain infrastructure to promote bicycling and walking. In response to worsening air pollution and alarm over rising levels of greenhouse gases and climate change, federal, state, and municipal governments and agencies have adopted sustainability policies which promote alternative transportation. Does College Township have a sustainability policy?
Answer: No.
Question: Does College Township consider bicycling and walking forms of transportation, and is there any formal township policy in that regard?
Answer: The township does not have a written policy, but does consider biking and walking modes of transportation.
Question: Road closures are preceded by extensive notifications. What notification efforts did the township make before the path closure?
Answer: Notice was placed in the Centre Daily Times.
Question: Why was no detour provided as would be for a road closure?
Answer: No detour was considered because the path was expected to be closed for a relatively short time.
Question: Since all the intersections surrounding the township building are posted with “no pedestrian” signs, the path through the tunnel was the only legal way to walk there. Is it now illegal to walk to the College Township building?
Answer: I can’t answer that.
Brumbaugh was clearly displeased at the course of events, and he expressed regret at the prolonged path closure. He emphasized that the township wants to promote cycling and walking, pointing to the policy of encouraging sidewalks and bike infrastructure with all new development projects. He also pointed out that the township is a strong supporter of Penn State’s plan for a bike path to connect the Puddintown path to Porter Road near the baseball stadium. He expressed a desire to work with CRBC and the cycling and walking communities in the future.
Clearly, State College is not Copenhagen, and we have a long way to go before the work of CRBC toward safe connected bikeways can be considered complete. According to U.S. Secretary of Transportation, “Bicycling is an important factor in less carbon-intensive commuting” . We can only hope our municipal and regional officials will see the need for more effort on their parts to move this great project forward. 
< Path detour with temporary bridge
Delft, Nl.
Path detour- Santa Monica
