The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has recently announced an invitation to provide your recommendations on the draft 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) from September 20th through October 19th. The Bicycle Coalition and members of the Circuit Trails Coalition are currently reviewing the LRTP and will provide their recommendations for public comment in the coming weeks.
To give you a brief background on PennDOT’s long-range plan, the department updates the plan every 6 to 10 years and looks ahead twenty years to establish multimodal strategic direction for the state’s transportation system. The plan is currently in the final stages of the planning process which involves technical analysis, public and stakeholder outreach and collaborative planning. For an overview of the process and who to contact for more information, please refer to their website.
Those of you who took action and submitted comments on the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s (DVRPC) Connections 2050 Long-Range Plan should be on the look-out for a similar pre-written email that was provided in our action alert during DVRPC’s public comment period. Out of the 8 recommendations that were provided to DVRPC to consider in their draft, they included 3 of the recommendations which were implemented in the plan leading up to the DVRPC Board and Executive Committee adopting the plan. Thanks to your advocacy, we brought a positive change to the plan by recommending commitment to completing trail segments of the Circuit Trails by 2025, improving safety principles to enhance bikeability and to secure funding for the City’s high-quality bike network.
We are now asking that you keep an eye out for our recommendations to improve bicycle safety and facilities in PennDOT LRTP for Pennsylvania’s Southeastern region. A few asks that have been gathered so far include addressing climate change and the impacts we are experiencing now and for future generations as well as commitment to the Vision Zero strategy and policy to eliminate all traffic-related deaths by 2050.