Pennsylvania adopts groundbreaking transportation funding plan with greatly increased support for biking, walking

In a situation similar to the current groundbreaking proposal to reform Missouri transportation funding spending, Pennsylvania recently passed a big new transportation funding bill with very large gains for biking and walking.

PA Walks and Bikes has the details:

Tremendous credit for this success goes to PennDOT Secretary Barry Schoch, who worked diligently for several years to make the case for the nearly $2.4 billion package, and fought hard to keep the issue front and center even after the House was unable to take a vote in June and rejected versions of the bill twice on Monday night.

What will this bill do for biking and walking? A lot. As the Secretary told advocates Monday night, “This is the biggest step forward for the bicycle and pedestrian modes of transportation in the history of Pennsylvania.” The bill:

• Creates a multi-modal fund that grows from $30 to $144 million over a 5-year period, to which bicycle and pedestrian projects can apply for funding;
• Sets an annual minimum of $2 million of that fund to be spent on bicycle and pedestrian facilities;
• Makes it easier to use state transportation money for pedestrian safety projects, streetscaping & lighting;
• Explicitly states that Pennsylvania’s comprehensive transportation system includes Pennsylvania’s “numerous bicycle and pedestrian facilities,” which will make it easier for bicycle/pedestrian projects to compete for highway funds.

A full analysis of how the entire funding package will increase over the next five years is here.

 

The biking and walking community put its oar in the water to help secure this legislative success. With your help, we fought hard for biking and walking to be included in the bill and to receive a minimum-floor amount of the multi-modal fund. This success is a result of years of coalition work with the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition and the health groups that collaborated on Walk Ride PA.