Lancaster County’s draft Long Range Transportation Plan - a policy document intended to steer transportation spending through 2035 - is calling for greater planning for non-automotive transportation, including bicycling.
Consideration of different modes of transportation is a significant shift for planners who have previously focused on improvements to the county’s 3,830 linear miles of roadway — the second-largest county network in the state — and its 1,014 bridges.
“The existing transportation system is heavily weighed toward highways. New transportation planning must also give strong focus to bicycling, walking, transit and railroad modes,” a guiding principle in the Charter for Change supplement to transportation plan.
More important may be the call for transportation funding to be “mode-neutral,” meaning that plannerswould not favor one mode of transportation over another, but would fund projects that are most effecient. The plan recognizes recent trends related to the increased cost of gasoline, such as rising train and bus ridership and an increase in the sales of bicycles. It also recognizes that many local roads cannot accommodate both motor vehicles and non-motorized modes of transportation. It calls for the construction of sidewalks and bike lanes in new communities and bicycling education to encourage safer riding and adherence to traffic laws.
The draft plan was approved Monday by the county’s transportation planning committee, the Metropolitan Planning Organization. It is expected to be approved by the county commissioners later this summer. After it is adopted, it will be included as part of the county’s comprehensive plan, named Envision Lancaster County.
More information on the Long Range Transportation Plan can be found on the county Planning Commission website, at http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/planning/cwp/view.asp?a=476&Q=388860&planningNav=|5884|5910|
