While riding in your neighborhood, you’ve most likely come across roads that are in the process of asphalt milling. This process involves removing the surface of a paved area such as a road or bridge that requires repair. Before the process moves into its next step of resurfacing the road, there are opportunities to include various improvements such as storm water infrastructure and bicycle facilities including bike lanes, sharrows, striped shoulders and crossing treatments.
The Bicycle Friendly Resurfacing Program is an effort between the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) with the goal of identifying roads in the four suburban counties in the Southeastern Pennsylvania area that are good candidates for bicycle facilities before the resurfacing process begins. Each year, the counties, municipalities, the Bicycle Coalition and the East Coast Greenway Alliance review the potential roads listed under PennDOT’s resurfacing schedule to determine if the roads are safe for cyclists, if it is logically integrated with the existing or future bike networks, and if it is desired by the local communities.
As a result of this program, 24 miles of bike lanes / shoulders have been implemented since 2019. In the pipeline for 2022, there are 9 projects that can be found here. The selection of roads for bike lanes and shoulders in 2023 to 2024 is underway. If you’re interested in learning more about the process, we got you covered. Our new ArcGIS Online Storymap provides an overview of the Bicycle Friendly Resurfacing Program that lays out the steps from beginning to end with examples of roads that have implemented bike facilities. Questions about the program? You can contact the Coalition’s Regional Organizer, Patrick Monahan at patrick@bicyclecoalition.org