Pa. awards funds for walking, bicycling trails

It’s always good to hear more good news from home.  The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is awarding almost $75 million for smart transportation and safe route to school projects.  Some of those projects getting funding near Pittsburgh are: Point Park University, for enhancing intersections downtown; Allegheny County, for improving bike and pedestrian trails in the park where my mom goes for walks and where a friend of mine in high school got run over by a bike rider on a poorly-lit trail, and for researching ways of making walking and bicycling “an integral part of getting around Allegheny County;” Beaver County, for improving roundabouts and other traffic calming measures at a proposed TOD site in Rochester; Munhall, for replacing and improving sidewalks and bike trails in their old downtown; and Blairsville, for improving bike and pedestrian paths along Market Street.  Pennsylvania is taking aggressive steps to combat climate change and car-dependence, and I hope that they, along with other states like Maryland, can set an example for the rest of the country.