Four Active Transportation Plans Funded and Adopted!

In August 2017, Walk Works announced the availability of funding to assist municipal entities with the development of active transportation plans and related polices. The first-time funding effort was another step in the program's efforts to increase opportunities for physical activity with the long-term goal of improving the health of the population. The announcement advised that WalkWorks was seeking to award mini-grants to communities interested in enhancing the built environment, thereby increasing walking and biking and, if/where appropriate, public transit.

Planning healthy, compact, complete communities is necessary to support active transportation. Further, the collaborative planning process, one of the expectations of WalkWorks, and the final plans are documentation that community design is no longer the domain of land use and transportation planners, alone. This shift that must be achieved in relation to how we plan and design communities to increase walking, cycling and public transit for a healthier population.

From numerous competitive applications, the four communities that best met the criteria for selection and received funding were Elizabethtown Borough, Lancaster County; Jersey Shore Borough, Lycoming County; Borough of Oakmont, Allegheny County; and West Earl Township, Lancaster County. With the assistance of experts and stakeholders, plus public input, we are pleased to share that the governing bodies of all four communities adopted plans by June 30, 2018. The plans include priorities as well as corresponding schedules and estimated costs. These communities have demonstrated their commitment to encourage physical activity by prioritizing active transportation and, thus, WalkWorks deems its initial funding an important achievement toward a healthier population. For more information, please contact: pawalkworks@pitt.edu.

Funding is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Health through the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.