ACTION ITEMS - ROUTES & PRIORITIES

The following Action Items were developed from input by the ATP Steering Committee and outreach to the region’s municipalities and Active Transportation stakeholders. This input also helped to create the Vision Statement at the beginning of the planning process.

The Action Items are divided into two groups:

ROUTES & PRIORITIES -- Focused on facilitating and constructing improvements to the Regional Backbone that make Active Transportation easier, safer, and more convenient.

COORDINATION & COMMUNITY -- Focused on bringing together the region’s agencies, government entities, stakeholders, and general public to build understanding and support for the Active Transportation Plan.

Under each Action Item are the implementation activities that HATS staff will undertake. These Implementation Activities will be the immediate focus for the HATS staff and are discussed in more detail in the MOVING FORWARD chapter.

Action Item #1: Prioritize short-term improvements that fill gaps or overcome barriers in the Regional Backbone and/or are on or connect to designated bike routes and greenways.

The HATS Regional Active Transportation Plan seeks to identify improvement projects that make active transportation safer, easier, and more convenient, and for which funding is likely available to move them quickly toward implementation. The following corridors and connections identified as short-term priorities include those that have already been studied/analyzed in local or regional planning studies, are progressing through the PennDOT project development process, and can be feasibly implemented within the next 5 to 10 years. These short-term priorities will be the focus of immediate implementation, including prioritization/programming as part of other regional plans and project funding decisions.

Short-term priorities were determined based on the following factors:

Documented need, municipal/stakeholder support, and completed feasibility/planning studies
Ongoing or potential Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) project.
Funding availability
Connecting to or expanding an existing active transportation facility.

Implementation Activities:

Advance improvements for identified short-term priorities when considering decisions for active transportation funding.
Coordinate with local municipalities and submit an RTP Transportation Need form for short-term priorities for future consideration for inclusion on the TIP.
Coordinate with PennDOT, local municipalities, and regional stakeholders to identify other construction funding sources.

To view the Short-Term Priorities slide show full screen, click here.

To view or download the Short-Term Priority Profile PDFs, click here.

Action Item #2: Evaluate, examine, or determine feasibility of non-motorized connections to extend or enhance the Regional Backbone that would be implemented over the long-term.

Many of the connections identified on the Regional Backbone are faced with significant challenges to implementation, including geographic or environmental constraints, lack of stakeholder coordination or community support, and the need to accommodate other transportation needs within limited available space. Long-term maintenance is also an important, yet often overlooked, consideration.

these and other issues specific to the identified connections and corridors would need to be addressed by conducting a planning or feasibility study.  For these reasons, the identified long-term priorities do not have a timetable for implementation but should be targeted for study and analysis in the same 5-to-10-year timeframe as the short-term priorities.

The following long-term priorities were determined based on the following factors:

Important regional connection or state-identified bicycle route requiring significant coordination among municipal partners and regional stakeholders.
No feasibility/planning study (or significant issues found in feasibility/planning study).

Implementation Activities:

Advance identified long-term priorities when considering decisions for active transportation planning funding.
Coordinate with PennDOT, local municipalities, and other regional stakeholders to identify possible discretionary planning, feasibility, or design funding sources.

To view the Long-Term Priorities slide show full screen, click here.

To view or download the Long-Term Priority Profile PDFs, click here.

Action Item #3: Incorporate improvements to reduce Bicycle Level of Stress or make pedestrian connections as land development or transportation projects advance.

Dedicated active transportation improvement projects are not the only opportunities to implement the ATP. Any transportation improvement; including local road improvements , state highway maintenance projects, or land development projects should , include appropriate bicycle and/or pedestrian accommodations whenever possible. These accommodations range from widened shoulders and bicycle-friendly rumble strips in rural areas to traffic calming measures, dedicated bicycle infrastructure, and sidewalks in more developed areas. These incremental improvements are critical to advancing the ATP and the Regional Backbone and any of the other corridors identified in this Plan, such as the Sidewalk Priority Areas or the Plain Sect Corridors.

Implementation Activities:

Include low-cost non-motorized improvements as part of roadway improvement projects, focusing on corridors identified on the Regional Backbone, Plain Sect Corridors, or other designated routes.
Build sidewalks, pedestrian-oriented safety improvements, and other traffic calming measures as a part of land development or transportation improvement projects, focusing on corridors identified on the Regional Backbone, in Sidewalk Gap Priority Areas, or along transit routes.
Facilitate bicycle and pedestrian access to parks and schools through municipal ordinances, Official Maps, and grants for planning and implementation.
Implement traffic calming and speed reduction strategies wherever indicated by HATS safety planning, roadway analysis, or PennDOT/local police crash data.