REGIONAL PROFILE
The HATS region is comprised of the 103 municipalities of Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties, nestled within the Appalachian Mountains and their foothills in the Susquehanna River Valley of Central Pennsylvania. Home to over half a million people, most residents live between Carlisle in central Cumberland County and Hershey in eastern Dauphin County, with the state Capital Harrisburg and the east- and west-shore suburbs at the center. Perry County, western Cumberland County, and northern Dauphin County are more sparsely populated, rural in character, and feature many unique small boroughs.
The maps in the application below show the region’s distribution and concentration of a variety of demographic indicators relevant to active transportation:
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Population Density (by census block group)
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Population under 18 (as a percentage of total population, by census block group)
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Population over 65 (as a percentage of total population, by census block group)
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Low Income Population (households below poverty Level, as a percentage of total households, by census block group)
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Carless Households (as a percentage of total households, by census tract)
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Limited English Proficiency Households (as a percentage of total households, by census tract)
(data source: American Community Survey, 2018-2022 5-year estimates)
ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION IN THE HATS REGION
The region’s existing active transportation system consists of sidewalks, trails, mixed-use paths, on-street bike lanes, and roads marked for shared use. Many of the urban centers, boroughs, and residential areas are well connected internally by sidewalks, but a lack of interconnected regional active transportation facilities along major transportation corridors limits connectivity to other places and, therefore, active transportation opportunities for area residents.
Major active transportation facilities in the region include:
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Capital Area Greenbelt – A 20-mile trail loop that travels along the Susquehanna River with connections to parts of Harrisburg, Susquehanna Township, Penbrook Borough, Paxtang Borough, and Swatara Township. More information on the Capital Area Greenbelt is available here.
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Cumberland Valley Rail Trail – A 13-mile trail that follows the former Cumberland Valley Railroad corridor from Shippensburg to Newville, with other trail sections near Carlisle Borough and the Village of Greason. More information on the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail is available here.
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Jonathan Eshenour Memorial Trail – A 13.5-mile trail that extends through the Hershey community in Dauphin County, and provides access to parks, neighborhoods, and commercial establishments. More information on the Jonathan Eshenour Memorial Trail is available here.
Major designated bicycle/pedestrian routes in the region include:
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BicyclePA Route J – A bicycle route running from the Maryland border to the New York border, generally following the Susquehanna River. Within the HATS region, the route utilizes major roads such as US 11/15 and PA 230, as well as important local connections like Gettysburg Road, 3rd/Bridge Street, and the Capital Area Greenbelt. For more information on BicyclePA Routes is available here.
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9/11 National Memorial Trail – A 1,500-mile route connecting the Flight 93 Memorial in Shenksville, PA to New York City and Washington, DC. Within the HATS region, the route coincides with parts of BicyclePA Route J, but proceeds west from Mechanicsburg, utilizing the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail. More information on the 9/11 National Memorial Trail is available here.
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US Bicycle Route 11 – A bicycle route running from the Maryland border (near Hagerstown, MD) to the New York border (near Lawrenceville, PA). Within the HATS region, this route parallels PABicycle Route J. More information on the US Bicycle Route System is available here.
Other than the facilities identified above, the HATS region is home to many other trails that provide significant recreational opportunities. These include major trails like the Appalachian Trail, Horseshoe Trail, and Darlington Trail, as well as minor trails that connect a singular neighborhood to a community park. Due to their recreational focus and the major trails’ prohibition of bicycles, these trails weren’t considered to be part of the region’s Active Transportation facilities or the Regional Backbone proposed in this plan. However, the connectivity of all trails to improve parks and to promote a thriving, healthy community is acknowledged and captured in the available mapping data.
ANALYSIS
The following data sets were used in analyzing the region and, in coordination with the outreach efforts for this plan, help to establish the overall, proposed Regional Backbone, as well as Short- and Long-term Priorities. Below are general descriptions of each data set which can be viewed in the Interactive Analysis Mapping Application at the bottom of the page.
BICYCLE LEVEL OF STRESS
Bicycle Level of Stress (BLOS) broadly assesses the relative comfort level experienced by a cyclist, with 1 being considered low stress (typically associated with dedicated, physically separated or buffered bicycle facilities) and 4 being considered high stress (typically associated with high-volume, high-speed corridors with limited shoulders). This analysis uses data from the PennDOT Roadway Management System. The evaluation methodology matrix for this analysis is available here.
For this Plan, only state routes and local roads eligible for federal funding were included in the BLOS analysis. Many low-volume, low-speed local roads are not included in this analysis and would typically score as a relatively low BLOS 1 or 2. These routes often represent safe routes for local connections between residences, parks, schools, and other nearby destinations.
CRASH STATISTICS
Bicycle and pedestrian crash data is publicly available through PennDOT’s Public Information Crash Information Tool (PCIT). This shows bicycle and pedestrian crash data from 2012-2022 broken out into 3 categories – crashes with fatalities, crashes with serious injuries, crashes with neither fatalities nor serious injuries.
HATS is dedicated to eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries, with protection of “vulnerable road users” as one of the focus areas of our Safe Streets For All Qualified Action Plan. More information on HATS safety planning efforts, including an interactive web mapping application showing all crashes in the region, is available here.
BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN DEMAND
To broadly estimate demand for active transportation across the region, parcel-level land use data was used to identify properties that were likely to be generators of non-motorized trips. These uses included retail commercial establishments, schools, neighborhood parks, libraries, government offices, employment centers, hospitals, medical facilities and transit nodes. Once identified, half-mile “walkability” buffers were applied to each of these properties and an overlay analysis was performed, with areas having more overlapping buffers being considered to have a higher bicycle and pedestrian demand.
SIDEWALK PRIORITY AREAS
HATS partnered with Harrisburg University to conduct a Regional Sidewalk Inventory on the federal-aid eligible road network in Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties. This inventory used PennDOT RMS segment geometries and included information on sidewalk presence and general condition as a means to broadly show the current status of dedicated pedestrian infrastructure in the region. The Sidewalk Priority Areas were determined by intersecting the segments with missing or inconsistent sidewalks with areas of high bicycle and pedestrian demand.
PLAIN SECT CORRIDORS
Outreach to the region’s Amish, Mennonite, and other Plain Sect communities is part of HATS ongoing public and stakeholder engagement. Through these discussions, general areas of concentration and specific corridors of high-volume Plain Sect travel have been identified. Within these areas, and especially along these corridors, any roadway or bridge improvement project should be evaluated for expansion of shoulders and/or inclusion of horse-and-buggy/bicycle-friendly safety improvements.
10-MINUTE WALK
Developed by DCNR and the Trust for Public Lands, as part of their Statewide Outdoor Recreation Plan, the 10-Minute Walk to Public Parks, Trailheads, & Open Access Recreation Areas data set quantifies the relative need for improved access to recreation and trails by first establishing areas outside a 10-minute walk to those places. These areas are then weighted based on demographic factors including population density, density of children aged 19 and under, and density of households with income less than 75% of the county median household income to identify areas of relative need within each county. When viewing this data, comparison across counties should not be made – the degree of need within Perry County areas identified as “high” are not necessarily equal to the need within Dauphin or Cumberland County areas identified as “high”.
More information on the 10-Minute Walk to Public Parks, Trailheads, & Open Access Recreation Areas data is available here.
BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN COUNT DATA
Beginning in 2022, TCRPC staff has incorporated bicycle and pedestrian counting into their traditional traffic counting activities via video recording. For each location, video recording equipment is used to capture approximately 60 hours of data, typically spanning Thursday to Saturday, dawn to dusk each day, from which hourly bicycle and pedestrian counts are derived. Initial counts were performed at locations determined through outreach to municipalities and regional walking and cycling advocates and locations with programmed bicycle or pedestrian improvements planned to be constructed soon.
Due to limitations of the video recording equipment without natural light, human error in processing the data, and variations in the weather during
count periods, the goal of the counts is not to establish precise numbers related to active transportation users at a given location. Instead, the goal is observing general levels of use suitable for tracking progress over time or comparing before and after improvements are made.
