Bethlehem (November 2, 2023) – State Senator Lisa Boscola announced today that the City of Easton and Palmer Township will be receiving grants through WalkWorks, a program of the PA Department of Health (DOH) and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center. Funding will aid in their respective preparation of Active Transportation Plans to improve pedestrian safety and boost physical activity through the connection of local destinations with pedestrian, bicycle and transit networks within their borders.
“Providing safer opportunities to walk or bike improves the health and well-being of our residents, and these grants will allow Easton and Palmer to increase the ability of their residents to bike or walk where previously they only felt safe getting in their car,” Boscola stated. “Through the development of Active Transportation Plans, these communities will not only see the physical health benefits of walking and biking, but also reduce vehicle emissions, noise and traffic congestion.”
The City of Easton was awarded a $35,000 grant and Palmer Township was awarded a $20,000 grant.
These grants will also allow Easton and Palmer to work with transportation and community planners over the next year to collect the data and information, along with public input required to best develop their respective Active Transportation Plans.
In Easton, the grant will allow the City to make an active transportation plan (ATP) that focuses on barriers to walking/rolling: 1) between Historic Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods and 2) within Historic Downtown. The City’s goal will be to develop a plan that will ultimately lead to improvements for people who rely on active transportation to get to downtown for work, leisure, or to catch a bus and will also help those who park or take a bus to downtown but then rely on active transportation to get to their final destination.
In Palmer, the grant will go toward the preparation of an Active Transportation Plan and to help identify ways for residents to be more active and live healthier lifestyles. It will allow the Township to look at connecting other community parks and trails to its highest priority trail, the Palmer Bikeway, and to the 9/11 Trail, along with improving pedestrian and bike safety along its most congested corridor, the 25th St Corridor.
Statewide, only nine municipalities were selected by a multidisciplinary review team that included representatives of DOH and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, as well as PennDOT, the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the PA Department of Community and Economic Development.
Statewide grants totaling $210,000 were approved, with funding coming from the Centers for Disease Control Prevention through its Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant Program and also the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, that provided additional funding for two of the nine grants.
More information about the WalkWorks Program can be found at the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s website at WalkWorks (pa.gov).