Did you know PennDOT is currently finalizing a new Statewide Active Transportation Plan? The report should be out by the end of January 2020. This updates the State Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan from 2007. In the interim, terminology has shifted to refer to "active transportation" rather than "bike/ped" in an effort to both be more inclusive of all types of personal self-propelled mobility and also to avoid being defined in opposition to motor vehicles, as in the former "alternative transportation." As part of this plan, all the regional transportation planning authorities are directed to develop their own active transportation plans over the next 5 years.

We're ahead of the game here. SEDA-COG runs our regional MPO or Metropolitan Planning Organization, a multi-county entity which governs transportation planning, guides funding, and educates officials, professionals and the public on transportation issues. Over the past two years, in part spurred by the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership which has long identified a need to create a coordinated regional plan and in part by the knowledge that there would soon be a requirement to do so, the SEDA-COG MPO, in collaboration with the Williamsport Area MPO and the Greenway Partnership, has developed the Middle Susquehanna Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. Covering seven counties, it reviews both the current conditions and the visions and aspirations of the communities with respect to active transportation and then offers tools and strategies for bringing that vision into reality.

During the first Walk It Bike It public program of 2020, we reviewed both the basic plan document as well as the various supplemental resources available. They are housed on the SEDA-COG website here. A panel of people from SEDA-COG and the SGP was on hand for the discussion.

Among the next steps outlined in the plan is the creation of an ongoing Middle Susquehanna Active Transportation Committee. That committee is now up and running and putting several subcommittees in place. If you are interested in taking part in outreach, safety, or projects subcommittees or the primary committee, please contact Katherine Lewis at SEDA-COG.