Altoona Research Paper

While Altoona, PA has been working hard over the last couple of years to fix many community issues there is still one that the city has not solved. This has been a problem that has been ongoing since before I was born 15 years ago. The problem is that Altoona does not have enough sidewalks and crosswalks for the many people who walk places every day. I believe that people should have a safe place to walk in all cities, and should not have to worry about there not being adequate walking tracks or crosswalks in areas of heavier traffic. People have been saying for years that Altoona needs more sidewalks and crosswalks. One letter to the editor in the Altoona Mirror from 2008 says “Not only are there no bicycle paths; there are no sidewalks. There is no safe way for people to even get across the street, let alone up the hill to Logan Town Centre.” This area of the city has always

Accidents occur at this location more often then anywhere else due to the lack of sidewalks and crosswalks. This is just one of the many reasons that Altoona needs to fix this problem. Another is that many areas of the city do not have sidewalks or crosswalks. Outside of Penn State University, Altoona there are no sidewalks. Since housing is off campus many of these students walk to class everyday along the side of a very busy road not to mention all the sidewalk less side roads that they travel on before this road. The third reason is that since Altoona has a lack of reliable public transportation options, many people walk to work, stores, and schools. Without the sidewalks they are forced to walk on the side of the road, putting them in danger plus cars aren’t expecting people to be crossing from the sides of roads or sidewalks since there are no crosswalks. Lastly, for the few buses we have and the school