Partnership TMA presents Hatfield ‘intersection audit’

As they enter 2025, a local nonprofit is giving Hatfield Township a detailed to-do list.

Members of the Partnership TMA gave a presentation to the town’s commissioners in mid-December, outlining an “intersection audit” looking in detail at the sidewalks, stripes, and signals throughout Hatfield.

“That’s looking at some roadways and intersections, to determine how bike-friendly they were, and how safety improvements could be made,” said Jacqui Baxter-Rollins.

The Partnership TMA of Montgomery County, headquartered in North Wales, is a regional nonprofit that advocates for mass transit, bicycling, and walkability across the region, and has presented walkability studies and advocated for sidewalks, bike lanes, and other safety upgrades in several local municipalities in recent years.

Since the summer, Baxter-Rollins told Hatfield’s commissioners on Dec. 18, PTMA members and volunteers have taken a close look at several busy intersections in Hatfield, both borough and township, vetting them using criteria developed via similar audits across the country.

PTMA program leader Lucas Oshman then presented the results of one audit, looking at the intersection of Broad Street and Cowpath Road in late October.

“This was a Saturday morning audit, and even then it was extremely busy, all around the Wawa and the intersection. We saw numerous cyclists and pedestrians, going to the Wawa and other locations around there, as well as heavy vehicle traffic,” he said.

PTMA also spoke with a business owner at the intersection, who said they often see pedestrians cut across Broad away from the intersection, then saw that the east side of that intersection lacks sidewalks, which could be a reason walkers cross elsewhere. The PTMA observers saw cyclists using both road and sidewalk, and traffic backups caused by the nearby SEPTA Fortuna station, with pedestrian signals present but other fixes needed.

“The paint on the crosswalks is faded, and they were just outlines, with no ‘zebra stripes’ for visibility. Some of the recommendations that came out of this audit: Many stretches of Broad Street have existing shoulders, that could be studied to see if they could be utilized for bike lanes,” he said.

Crosswalks could be repainted and striped for better visibility, signage could be added warning drivers to yield for pedestrians, new sidewalks could be added on the sides of the intersection without them, and if Broad is found unsuitable for sidewalks, signs could be added pointing cyclists to other streets with less traffic, Oshman told the board

Resident Jerry Weltman detailed the criteria developed by the national AARP and used for the audits, a “trial run, right outside of the township building” and reported on a similar study at the intersection of Cowpath and Orvilla Roads, an intersection realigned in 2021 after nearly a decade of discussion, property acquisition and construction.

“The intersection has traffic signals that are clearly visible, no designated traffic lights for bicyclists. Traffic signals are working properly, and provide auditory cues, and allow the 24 seconds for proper crossing, so that’s a good thing,” he said.

Negatives: that intersection does allow right turns on red, and has crosswalks that are outlined but not striped, and no signs for cyclists or pedestrians were seen there, Weltman told the board. The recommendations from PTMA submitted by a cyclist include widening the sidewalks, upgrading the riding surface, repairing potholes, and extending sidewalks south toward Montgomery Township and east toward Route 309 beyond where they currently end, or rerouting cyclists to safer roads with slower traffic.

Another intersection studied, “one of my personal favorites,” was Maple Avenue and Orvilla, Weltman said, and at that intersection stop signs only aim one direction, while a sharp curve on Orvilla “limits sight lines in all directions.” Potholes were seen there too, and overgrown foliage was also noted that limits visibility, while during the audit one young cyclist, “probably in his early teens, was observed biking across the lawns of the residences to bypass the intersection.”

“To me, that’s a key indicator that there’s an issue there. I ride this almost every day, and what I’ll do is come down Maple, wanting to go left on Orvilla. It’s so bad there, just volume of traffic, I’ll make a right, and go up to Cowpath, and make a left and go east; it’s safer than trying to negotiate that left hand turn,” Weltman said, particularly on Wednesdays when trash trucks are on local streets and leave trash containers on sidewalks and in alleys.

Recommendations there: more sidewalks or mixed-use trails, lower speed limits, or a three-way stop sign at that intersection, with trimming of foliage and pothole repair also needed in spots. The next intersection, at Cowpath and Bergey Roads, saw similar needs — crosswalk striping, pothole fixes, and pinch points that could be widened, or cyclists directed away from, to enhance rider safety.

“Two teens were riding their bikes on the sidewalk. They said they did not feel safe to bike on the road in the area, and stuck to the sidewalks when possible. They commented that they had used, and appreciated, the new bike lanes on Derstine (Road) leading up to Elroy (Road),” Weltman said, before adding another observation: “Teen cyclists stated that the cars would get mad at them for blocking the road, if they are not biking on the sidewalks.”

Meghan Kochersperger, site manager for Hatfield-based Fiber Line on Campus Drive near Bergey Road, said new bike connections would benefit employees, including roughly 100 who work there during shifts that run 24 hours a day, as well as hobbyists.

“I do currently have at least one employee who bikes to work every single day. He actually recently got an e-bike, which is really awesome for him: it saves a lot of time, especially in this kind of weather,” she said.

“He’s one of our most reliable employees, he really does good work for us. And he really appreciated that he was able to find a job where he’s able to bike to work. I had at least two prior employees in the past year who also rode a bike to work every day, and both of them gave me feedback that they felt extremely unsafe riding up Bergey Road,” Kochersperger said.

On that road, drivers go 40 to 50 miles per hour and bikers have no shoulders or sidewalks, leading to a tough choice for commuters who don’t drive.

“I had one tell me that he stopped riding a bike, and instead chose to walk over a mile to work, because he thought it was safer to walk,” she said.

“You guys know there’s a lot of manufacturers in Hatfield, and many of us operate 24 hours a day, so these employees aren’t just biking to work. They might be biking in pitch darkness,” Kochersperger said — “I kind of feel like some of these people have to take their lives into their hands, just to get to work, if they’re not able to drive.”

Adding more trails, signs and crosswalk marking could increase safety, reduce the risk of accidents, and be a selling point for employees — and connecting larger networks like the Liberty Bell Trail that runs through adjacent Lansdale Borough north into Hatfield could bring benefits to both.

“If we ever did get to that level of connectivity, I think it would be a huge selling point in our recruiting efforts, to be able to bring talented people in, knowing they could live in a nearby community and not necessarily just Hatfield, and be able to get to work not by car,” Kochersperger said.

William Jackson, a resident of Upper Gwynedd and president of the Bike North Penn advocacy group, added his own thanks to the commissioners for upgrades to several trails in recent years, and said were looking forward to finding spots where bike lanes could be added on local roadways, and more major throughways like the section of the Route 309 Connector currently under construction.

“Thank you for all of the great things you guys are doing in regards to infrastructure. We’re here to support that,” he said.

Baxter-Rollins added that she and the PTMA team will start seeking grant funds they could request to cover some of the proposed projects, and commissioners President Tom Zipfel said he looked forward to talks continuing in 2025 and beyond.

“The economics of making the improvements, those are a piece of the puzzle we’re just starting to figure out,” he said.