Spencer Finley

News Editor

sjf5814@psu.edu

Jordan Road is the road which runs through the middle of campus, separating the Burke Building, the Smith Chapel and the Junker Center from the rest of campus. However, aside from serving as an inconvenience for students who are late to class, the road is a potential safety hazard for students and faculty and serves to stifle the growth of the college. 

“Jordan Road divides the campus, making future development more difficult. We are also concerned about the safety of students, faculty and staff crossing Jordan road, especially in the winter months, when the road is snow covered,” said Operations Director Randy Geering and Student Affairs Director Dr. Ken Miller. They continued that “the campus is concerned about the potential for a significant injury to someone struck by a vehicle and would like to work with the township to reduce traffic flow.” 

They continued, “actually owning the road would allow us to reconfigure the center of campus into a more iconic space, enhancing the beauty and the pedestrian traffic flow through campus, while also allowing for emergency vehicle access.” 

According to Geering and Miller, Penn State has been looking to acquire Jordan Road from Harborcreek township for decades. “The University started conversations to acquire the road with the township in the mid 1990’s,” they said. 

Despite three decades of negotiations, Harborcreek and Penn State Behrend have still not come to an agreement about who should control Jordan Road. When asked about points of contention with Harborcreek Township in the purchasing process, Geering and Miller said that “The township is hesitant to add traffic calming devices and or cross walks. As the road is steep, traffic calming devices would not allow the township to maintain the road in a safe manner during the winter months. The devices would hinder snow removal creating unsafe conditions for vehicles and pedestrians.” 

They continued that “the issue with crosswalks is the topography of the road. Crosswalks give the pedestrian the ‘right of way,’ unfortunately the steep incline of the road would not allow for vehicles to stop in time in wintery conditions, again creating unsafe conditions for pedestrians.”

Amazingly, according to Geering and Miller, in the past 20 years, no students have died as only one person has been injured. They said that “we are only aware of one incident of a student being hit by a car. The student was not paying attention and stepped onto the road without looking. The student suffered a minor injury of a broken collar bone.”

However, even though only one student has been injured on the street, people should still take precautions to ensure the safety of themselves and others when on Jordan Road; the university recommends that “Anyone crossing Jordan road needs to take extra caution. They need to look both ways, understand the road conditions, and be sure when crossing the road that it is safe.” Geering and Miller also recommend that “Drivers on Jordan Road need to adhere to the speed limit of 25 MPH. Drivers should also be extra cautious when driving on Jordan road and always be on the lookout for pedestrians.”

When asked about plans for the future of negotiations on Jordan Road, Geering and Miller said that “We plan to continue the conversations” with Harborcreek Township.