Sidewalk connecting Flemington bridge to Hogan Boulevard and beyond a possibility, discussions may begin soon
By Christopher Miller
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – A stretch of Hogan Boulevard that has long been used as an unsafe, informal, walkway to get from Flemington Borough to Sheetz and beyond is a step closer to becoming a designated sidewalk.
With all three Clinton County Commissioners in attendance at Monday night’s Bald Eagle Township Supervisors meeting, Angela Harding spoke to the group at length about the possibility of a sidewalk along the 220 side of Hogan Boulevard.
“A study was done in 2022 and at the time, Bald Eagle Township did not have participation in it,” Commissioner Harding began. “We are all aware of transportation issues in the county and that we cannot sustain public transportation, and there is a contingency of residents in Clinton County as we learned from the bridge closure last summer, that walk down Hogan Boulevard for food and supplies. We want to talk about what this looks like going forward and how to improve multimodal transportation to the busiest shopping area in Clinton County.”
As Commissioner Harding explained, existing pavement would be used, adding sidewalks or walking paths on property that does not currently have pavement along the 220 side of Hogan Boulevard, adding painted lines for walkways across pavement already in place, such as the Tractor Supply entrance and the vehicle entrances to Original Italian Pizza (OIP).
“In the case of Original Italian Pizza, we would not need to take away any parking areas,” Harding explained.
Prior to the Commissioners segment of the supervisors meeting, OIP Mill Hall owner Adam Kirkhoff spoke to the group expressing his displeasure with the amount of projects along Hogan Boulevard over the past few years negatively impacting his business.
“I don’t think this is a good idea, I have personally seen lots happen along Hogan Boulevard with the widened road taking away my parking spots, to losing business with the bridge work and closures where I had to cut a ton of employee hours,” Adam said. “I have 23 employees right now and we are very busy, but when something is happening along Hogan I do not know how I can keep them employed or have a job here for them, and I don’t like that the food trucks are parking themselves in parking lots along the boulevard and paying a fee to be there, they are making it harder for me to stay in business, it’s not getting any easier.”
While Adam is displeased by the idea of sidewalks possibly cutting into his business, Commissioner Jeff Snyer later added that the sidewalks could add business to the area for the people who cannot get there by car now.
“I have seen a lot of people riding on their motorized chairs and it is an unsafe thing to see, but we are seeing more and more people using them as their vehicle because it is their only form of transportation,” Snyder said. “We do not want to take property, we think this can be done without that or with few disruptions to businesses to help promote their business in the area.”
Clearly painted pedestrian walkways and signage would be put in place, with PennDOT’s help with signage locations.
“Once clearly labeled for public use, the liability would be taken from the property owner and folks using it are doing so at their own risk,” Commissioner Harding explained. “Pedestrians always have the right-of-way at a crosswalk.”
When the question of who would maintain the sidewalks was posed by Supervisor Shawn Adrian, Commissioner Harding explained that as “to be determined.”
“Wayne Township has sidewalks all the way down their main street, and they maintain that, and businesses like Tractor Supply and Sheetz are already paying to have their parking lots plowed, so I would think they would tack on the expense to have the sidewalks done, too, but I should not make those assumptions,” Commissioner Harding said. “I tried walking from Lowe’s to Ollie’s and I was a nervous wreck, and when I tried to ride my bike from Mill Hall to Lock Haven, I had people yelling at me and saying things, and even had black smoke spewed in my face from passing trucks, the mindset in Clinton County around this multimodal transportation like biking, running, and walking is not the greatest, but it takes all of us to change that and say it is OK to walk, or ride a bike.”
Additional talks may be forthcoming regarding other issues along Hogan Boulevard, such as truckers coming and going from Croda along Draketown Road, and getting feedback from them on the trouble they have turning on to Hogan Boulevard. “We will work in partnership to get other things in the township along Hogan Boulevard resolved,” Commissioner Snyder said.
Commissioner Snyder asked for the township to consider holding a work session with the commissioners and some others who were involved in the study, and then bring in the property owners in a public meeting to discuss how this would affect them and to have questions answered.
“We would like the blessing and cooperation of Bald Eagle Township in making the busiest shopping district in the county completely accessible to all, providing clear cut walkway paths for those who do not want to get in and out of their vehicle, or do not have a vehicle to get in and out of,” Commissioner Harding said.
