With the long warm days of Spring, construction season is heating up around Pennsylvania. Many bicycle and pedestrian projects are under construction or just coming on line, including several PA communities’ first foray’s into bike lanes!

• Carlisle’s road diet is mostly complete. This innovative project in a “small town next to a big highway” cuts motor vehicle lanes through downtown to add bike lanes and pedestrian improvements. High-tech cameras will soon be turned on to coordinate light timing during moments of congestion. Could this be the blueprint for other towns?
• York is celebrating its first Bike to Work Week. As part of the week, a permanent bike lane is being added to King Street. It will better connect several York neighborhoods to the 21-mile Heritage Rail Trail County Park. This is a great way to use bike lanes – to connect people to existing resources.
• Some progress is being made on moving forward a Safe Routes to School project in Schuylkill County. According to our research, this project was originally announced as part of the 2005-2006 Transportation Enhancements-funded “Hometown Streets” program. It really is amazing how long it can take to improve some sidewalks!
• The Federal Highway Administration announced grant recipients for scenic byway projects. Two of the 94 projects nationwide are bicycle and pedestrian projects based in PA.
• Our friend Michele Barrett from Walk Bike Berks made the news for walking from Pottstown to Harrisburg to arrive at the Pennsylvania Walks & Bikes Summit.
• We will just quote the article on this one: “In other business, borough engineer Robert Ludgate said a $360,000 project for pedestrian safety improvements, and safer school crossings, along a half-mile of Penn Avenue in the western part of the borough is being delayed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which has yet to assign a project manager.”