With the recent death of a Penn State professor who was hit by a car while riding his bike, local residents are expressing concern about road conditions for bikers in the community.

About 10 Centre Region Bike Coalition (CRBC) members attended a meeting last Friday to explore strategies for achieving the goals of a safer, more bike-friendly and less car-dependent community.

CRBC member David Bevacqua said the coalition plans to raise awareness by dedicating a ride this week to the memory of professor Bohdan Kulakowski as well as to other bikers and pedestrians who have died in vehicular accidents in State College and surrounding areas.

Participants will meet at 5 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Allen Street and College Avenue to follow Kulakowski's daily commute to the site of the accident, where a memorial service will occur, CRBC secretary Paul Simpson said.

Kulakowski, a mechanical engineering professor and avid biker, was killed Wednesday when he was struck from behind by a van while riding to his Boalsburg home.

"I think it is a tragedy that it happened," said Simpson, who rode with Kulakowski on several occasions.

"It is so needless and senseless ... He was an incredibly great person," he added.

Simpson said that the site of the accident is an example of poorly maintained roads in Centre County.

A main priority of the community should be making sure the shoulder is adequately paved and maintained, he said.

Bevacqua said the CRBC plans to contact planners and architects to provide designs for bike-friendly roads and hopes to present its plan to the State College Borough Council.

CRBC members also discussed a plan to use news archives to research the number and locations of fatal bike accidents involving cars.

They also spoke of using traffic and bicycle patterns of road usage to construct a potential network of effective bike lanes.

" ... It is an outrage to allow roads to continue to be a hazard for anyone not in a car," Bevacqua said.

"A simple and intelligent design and a fraction of the money spent on parking spaces can easily rectify the problem," he added.

Bevacqua said the borough seems to have been working actively to make the community more "car-centric."

"Bikes and cars cannot share the road," Bevacqua said. "A slow-moving bike in a fast lane of traffic is a ridiculous hazard that should not be allowed. Every motorist who has angrily sped around me with inches between us would agree that the road is no place for a bicycle."