Fall Foliage Ride and NextGen Mobility Plan

 Written by Valerie Burnett


On this past cool and blustery Saturday people of all ages and abilities gathered at Sunset Park for the Fall Foliage Bike Ride & Festival.  Discussions about the Next Gen Connectivity & Mobility Plan prompted many to express high hopes for all who walk, bicycle, and take the bus in our region. 

As riders approached the intersection of McKee Street and Park Avenue it triggered conversations about how it is necessary to put a toe or tire out into the road to show drivers their intention to cross.  Without being assertive it can be a very long wait.  One person commented that even though people have the right of way it is not worth being “dead right.”  Another mentioned that a reasonably inexpensive solution might be retractable bollards. 

We traveled through campus working our way to the Blue Course Drive multi-use path with the support of members from the State College Borough Bicycle Ambassadors and CentreBike enabling us to ride through intersections seamlessly and safely.  The very gentle, family friendly ride included plenty of opportunities for us to pause and regroup. 

While breaking in West Campus a few people recollected their excitement at the completion of the 2021 connection between West Campus and the West End Neighborhood.  An article showed a photo of the project. They wished for a map of the whole path.  Suddenly they realized the photo was it, the path in its entirety.  The group chuckled about how the project sounded so much bigger than it was.  Someone summarized it as being a big effort for a little gain.  This caused the discussion to turn to how crucial the Borough’s mobility plan is to provide big efforts that will yield big gains.

Cruising along the topic of affordable housing surfaced.  All those participating in that conversation agreed that transportation and housing fit together hand in hand.  Questions about the CATA driver shortage merged with concerns about whether or not drivers earned a living wage.  That led to some discussion about property maps and why are they not freely available to the public online.  It was mentioned that Robert Zeigler is campaigning on the promise to improve access to property information in Centre County as Recorder of Deeds.  That sure would save STHV members time and effort!

Pedaling back to Sunset Park on an idyllic autumn day we wrapped up the ride with Jasmine Fields, our State College Sustainability Program Officer, and Mayor Ezra Nanes reminding everyone that their input and support is needed regarding the NextGen mobility plan at the upcoming engagement sessions.  Please show up to show your support!

Meetings:

  • Monday, 10/23 @5:30-7:00PM, State College Municipal Building, Council Chambers
  • Tuesday, 10/24 @12:00-2:00PM, Eric J Barron Innovation Hub, Room 612
  • Tuesday, 10/24 @4:00-5:30PM, State College Area High School
  • Wednesday, 10/25 @6:30-8:00PM, State College Municipal Building, Council Chambers

Pop-up Session: 

  • Wednesday, 10/25 @12:00-2:00PM, Allen Street Gates



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paved Paradise Book Review

Image
  Written by Evan Ferstl Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar. Photo from Penguin Press. Recently, I read the new book Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar. Given the current discussions around parking in State College, I thought this would be an interesting read and was not disappointed. Here are some of my main takeaways: There is a massive oversupply of parking in American cities Grabar makes many arguments familiar to anyone familiar with Strong Towns talking points. American cities have built so many parking spots that it has brought them to ruin. While most parking is free for parkers, it is expensive for cities to maintain, creating a massive subsidy (81). Parking availability is the number one predictor of car use, and greater car use in turn leads to an insatiable demand for more parking (82). Cities and their residents routinely believe incorrectly that they are facing a parking shortage. (85). This last point is particularl
Read more

College Communities

Image
  Written by Ethan Dean The Penn State Transportation Services Office, located in Eisenhower Parking Deck. Photo from Penn State Transportation Services. College campuses are some of the most urbanized places in the country, with ample housing where students live and buildings located right near food and downtowns. However, they still suffer from many of the same problems that America has with its transit, if to a lesser extent. In this post, we will briefly look at the structure of transportation design on campuses using our own Penn State as an example. Penn State has a few different groups involved in transportation, but much of the general day-to-day transit is operated and run by the Office of the Physical Plant. This group manages roads, lights, and the broad infrastructure and layout of the university. They even have a master plan and other reports on the state of their infrastructure. I would recommend checking out this page to see who works here, what the projects are, and ho
Read more