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BY MINH-DUYEN NGUYEN

In print | Published November 5, 2009

The Swarthmore Borough is looking for student involvement from the college in its recently created Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force.

On Sunday, the Swarthmore Borough Council appointed Hannah Jones ’12 to the task force. The Borough also contacted other members of Earthlust to ask for participation.

The task force will research ways to make the town more bicycle and pedestrian friendly and make suggestions for improvements to current infrastructure to the Borough Council. The task force will consist of nine members coming from both the college community and the town. Meetings will be open to the public.

Zein Nakhoda ’12, a member of Earthlust who was invited to work on the task force, expressed his support for the idea of a task force and its implications for the environment. He stressed that student participation in the task force will be important.

“The idea of expanding bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure would be nice in encouraging that kind of transportation over cars,” Nakhoda said. “They are looking for student involvement. It is important to put out there that they are looking for a student voice.”

Swarthmore Borough Council member Ralph Jacobs said that he hopes that the task force will work with a range of community organizations such as the police, schools, and the college to properly represent the interests of all town members.

Jacobs puts special emphasis on the importance of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Task Force for the town’s senior citizens, college students, families with children, and recreational bicyclists.

Ben DeGolia ’11, a frequent bicyclist, is enthusiastic about a possible task force to increase the safety of biking pathways.

“The task force seems like a great idea,” DeGolia said. “At the very least, the Borough will have an opportunity to evaluate the conditions of its roadways and sidewalks. I don’t really know what they’ll find out — I haven’t experienced many problems, but I also haven’t been here long.

“Also, it appears that they’ll be looking for opportunities to create or expand on existing groups, programs and education. I’d be interested to know what the proposed projects are.”

Jacobs stresses the increasing importance of non-motor transportation. He points to an example of infrastructure change in Philadelphia, where one lane of each of the two major east-west streets was closed to make room for biking lanes.

Jacobs also spoke of potential programs that will encourage groups of young students to bike to school together with a parental volunteer. While these are just a few of his ideas, Jacobs said that the task force will also study programs implemented in other communities and could be tried in Swarthmore.

Jacobs said that the borough will be very receptive to suggestions from the college community.

“I know that there are a number of groups that are interested in doing things like planning bike routes, arranging for connectivity among bike routes, and educating people to their availability,” Jacobs said. “Bike routes are only one of the many issues that the task force will look at. Maybe there is a need for more bike racks. I haven’t studied the issue. But that gives you an example of some of the things the task force will be working with.”

Providing safer services for pedestrians and bicyclists is becoming an increasingly important issue for the borough as more people are choosing to take alternative forms of transportation. Jacobs attributes this increase to many issues.

“Non-motor transportation is a real quality of life issue,” Jacobs said. “Whether people do it for the health issues or enjoy the aesthetics of walking or bicycling or they think it is green and environmentally conscious, or all of the reasons above.

“I think that there are a lot of people who think it is important to promote, to the extent that you can, bicycle and pedestrian transportation.”

Jacobs makes the point that the task force is not a response to any particular incident in the borough.

“The impetus for the task force was to have a broad look at many issues,” Jacobs said. “The task force was not created to respond to any particular incident or to address a particular problem.

“Bicycle and pedestrian traffic is a good thing. It is something that should be encouraged and it is on the increase. It improves the quality of life and is environmentally friendly. There are a lot of reasons why the borough should look at it systemically.”

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