Is this for any local road or just penndot roads in local areas?
2017-05-23 15:20:52
10
Gov Wolf nixes Bicycle Occupancy Permit
Good news and didn't see this on here. Basically, it means that municipalities outside of Pittsburgh and Philly can more easily install bike lanes, and avoid an onerous maintenance agreement for a road that PennDOT mostly maintains anyway.
From the Gov:
PennDOT will be issuing a policy change removing the Bicycle Occupancy Permit from its design manual. Moving forward, local governments will need only provide a letter of request for the proposed bicycle lane that includes the necessary information for PennDOT to appropriately evaluate the request. After a review, a letter of approval will be issued by the department. This will replace the previous requirement for a formal agreement between PennDOT and the municipality.
2017-05-23 15:00:08
This is just for PennDOT roads that run thru a municipality. I believe munis can do what they want with the roads that they own.
2017-05-23 15:27:20
Freeport is a good example of this. It's a PennDOT road that runs thru multiple munis. There was a movement to reduce the number of travel lanes and add bike lanes. PennDOT was all for it, designed the bike lanes, but needed each muni to sign the BOP. They couldn't get them all to sign, so they went for the compromise and just added the shoulders.
2017-05-23 15:29:06
this is great news! I hadn't seen this yet!
2017-05-23 16:04:55
Will they go back and label the Freeport lanes now?
2017-05-23 17:09:40
good question. my guess is PennDOT won't initiate that. At the time, they were repaving the road and were offering the new design to the municipalities since they had to paint the lines anyway. My guess is now, the munis would have to come up with their own money to make them official bike lanes, so the answer is probably no.
2017-05-23 20:37:23
This is great news! The easier the process is, the more likely change can happen.
erok, is there a statewide communications strategy to let muni's know about the change? Is this something we (BP members) should pressure the Penndot bike coordinator to communicate?
2017-05-24 07:40:45
my guess is the only strategy PennDOT has is to make the local Districts aware of the change and protocol.
A good approach is also to approach local municipalities with a project and work to figure out how to get it in
2017-05-24 09:58:58
I think Freeport Rd. should have it's speed limit in Aspinwall, Waterworks, Creighton, and O'Hara Township(West of Blawnox) lowered to 25 Mph. Anywhere else it isn't already 25 Mph, just lower it by 10 Mph. For example, The 55 Mph section in O'Hara between Powers Run Rd. and the Harmar Twp. line should go down to 45 Mph. The 45 Mph section of Freeport Rd. in Harmarville should be reduced to 35 Mph with road diet, protected bike lanes and bike parking facilities. Reduce the speed limit between Boyd Ave. and Powers Run Rd. from 40 Mph to 30 Mph. Bike parking facilities in Cheswick, Creighton, Tarentum, and Natrona Heights would be a good idea. Creating a bike and bus connection from Freeport Rd. to Pittsburgh Mills In Frazer Township would help bring more people into that area and maybe bring in some New Urbanist/Transit-oriented development into the area.
Create two new bus routes:
- 10 Lawrenceville-Pittsburgh Mills-Natrona Heights: Peak hour service every 20 minutes. Midday service every 30 to 35 minutes from Lawrenceville Shop N Save to Natrona Heights via Butler St in Morningside, Freeport Rd. in Aspinwall, Waterworks, O'Hara, Blawnox, Harmarville then Rt. 28 to Pittsburgh Mills, Rt 28 to Tarentum, Freeport Rd. to Natrona Heights and end at current P1 terminus. Midday service every 35-40 Minutes.
- 10X Harmarville-Pittsburgh Mills Express: Peak hour service every 25 minutes. midday service every hour Leave Downtown on I579 North to Rt. 28 North. Take Rt. 28 to Blawnox and re-enter in Harmarville. Exit Rt. 28 at Pittsburgh Mills and lay over in Walmart Parking lot.
2017-05-26 21:15:14