Circuit Trails Coalition Helps Improve Suburban Trail Connectivity
Authored By: The Circuit Trails | January 12, 2018
As valued, involved members of the Circuit Trails Coalition, it’s no surprise that our friends at the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia are always working to determine the best ways to improve accessibility on the Circuit Trails.
The organization’s newest initiative? “Technical Assistance for Suburban Communities” – aka TASCC – whose ultimate goal is making it easier for towns across the 9-county region to identify and develop “low-stress connections” to their nearest Circuit Trails segments. This initiative, which will serve as a valuable resource to township leaders across the region, further improves the Circuit Coalition’s ultimate goal of creating an easily accessible, county-to-county trail network.
To say the least, we think this effort by the Bicycle Coalition is pretty cool. Read its full update about TASCC below!
Introducing Our Newest Program: TASCC
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia is pleased to announce our newest initiative: Technical Assistance for Suburban Circuit Communities, aka “TASCC.” This strategic effort is being established to aid suburban local activists and decision-makers who want to connect their community to The Circuit, our region’s 800+ mile network of multi-use trails.
When The Circuit is complete, it will connect to communities all over our 9-county region. As extensive as it will be, most townships and boroughs will still lack safe routes connecting their residents to Circuit Trails.
The TASCC program seeks to remedy this situation by providing technical assistance to local communities so that they can identify “low stress connections” to the nearest Circuit segment. These interventions can vary from something as simple as signing and mapping an existing connection via side roads to more complex interventions involving bike/ped infrastructure improvements to key roadways and intersections.
When complete, each project will give its host community a viable proposal for a safe on-road connection that can be pursued either at the county, PennDOT District level (through resurfacing projects or capital projects) and state/federal levels (via multimodal, TAP applications and other funding sources). These new connections will increase access to nature and recreation, but also enhance the region’s vast bike and ped transportation network.
This program will be administered by our Regional Planner, Leonard Bonarek. If you’d like to learn more about how to better connect your community to The Circuit, reach out to him: leonard@bicyclecoalition.org.
In the coming weeks, we’ll have a launch party. Stay tuned to the BCGP or Biking the Suburbs Facebook page/group for details.
Original blog post located here.
