Pennsylvania Active Transportation Plan Update

JMT was tasked to develop a long-range plan that outlined an achievable implementation plan for active transportation in Pennsylvania. The plan was organized by six goals that support active transportation across the Commonwealth. The implementation plan provided policy and program strategies for the state to consider and organized them into prioritization timeframes. The implementation plan identified the steps needed to accomplish the goals and listed the responsible agency to lead the effort, as achieving a statewide plan is not the sole responsibility of any singular government agency but a coordinated effort of many parties.

JMT worked with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to develop performance measures to gauge success of the high-level goals, as well as more specific performances measures to track the progress of strategies listed in the implementation plan. Due to limited data and resources available to track performance measures, JMT worked with PennDOT to provide timeframes to prioritize when performance measures would be implemented over the life of the plan. JMT guided PennDOT on the specific data gaps and data management needs to properly understand and manage the statewide active transportation system and PennDOT programs.

Our staff facilitated multiple stakeholder engagement sessions involving government agencies and advocacy groups from across the Commonwealth to ensure the plan supported other regional planning efforts. JMT also assisted PennDOT in hosting a live stream broadcast paired with multiple open house sessions occurring simultaneously across the state to facilitate in-person discussions.

As part of the project, but separate from the long-range plan, JMT helped develop additional resource material to support PennDOT advance active transportation efforts. Recognizing the need for statewide bicycle and pedestrian priority areas (BPPAs), JMT developed a proposed strategic process to identify these BPPAs. JMT also developed a how-to guide to help develop local active transportation plans and outline potential sources for funding that local governments can use to develop and implement these plans.