WalkWorks is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania Downtown Center and the Pennsylvania Department of Health to encourage and enable walking and biking to everyday destinations for people across the commonwealth. To that end the program promotes Active Transportation – which includes walking, biking, transit, and allied forms of micro-mobility – in various for a and provides technical assistance and funding to communities developing Active Transportation Plans and related policies, like Complete Streets and Vision Zero.
As evidenced by the involvement of the Department of Health and the fact that the WalkWorks program funding comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the goal of this effort is better health. In recent years, increasing evidence has emerged for the expansive health benefits of being able to walk and wheel to everyday destinations. Increasing physical activity by incorporating active transportation into daily life can help to reduce risk of obesity, depression, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and dementia. In turn, improvements in personal health make for long-term, population-level savings in healthcare and insurance costs.
The benefits don’t stop with individual health outcomes either. As PDC is wont to note, investing in dense, walkable communities and associated infrastructure is far more productive for municipal finances than building car-dependent sprawl. What’s more, increasing the viability and utility of modes of transportation other than private cars also helps us reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Right now the complex entanglements of that hydrocarbon habit is all too evident in global climate impacts and international political instability.
These benefits do not make sense simply as a perk of wealth. Communities as a whole are stronger and more vibrant when residents are active and healthy. Active Transportation cannot just be a niche option for a select few. Everyone – regardless of zip code, skin color, or income level – can and should have safe, accessible, and pleasant Active Transportation options.
While it is true that not everyone can walk or bike or access transit or use those modes to get everywhere they need to go, many can or would be able to for a larger percentage of trips if only the built environment were conducive to it. Further, it turns out that around 30% of the population can’t drive either, whether because of age, infirmity, lack of access to a vehicle, or inability to drive. In spite of the shortcomings of that mode, we have focused on cars to the exclusion of almost everything else for many decades. It is time to shift our focus to broadening transportation options, rather than assuming there is a single universal mode. When we look to examples in other places, we also find that increasing access to Active Transportation reduces congestion and makes driving more feasible for those who still have to use that mode.
This emphasis on walking, wheeling, and transit is immediately recognizable as relevant for downtowns and neighborhoods in our core historic and walkable communities. Importantly, though, it is newly being recognized as also critical for further flung suburban and rural communities as well. That recognition and expansion of scope has positive implications for Main Street and Elm Street communities, too. After all, being an isolated area that is inviting for walking and biking might provide a nice break but it hardly makes for a functional transportation network.
We need transportation options for all ages, abilities, modes, and means. People who cannot drive, be they children, the elderly, people without cars or licenses, or people with physical limitations, live throughout the state, not just in our core communities. Providing a range of transportation options only to people in cities or towns is not enough. To that end, the WalkWorks program encourages communities all over the commonwealth to develop Active Transportation Plans to envision the healthy community in motion they want to become and to guide the process of getting there.
There are a number of different ways to procure Active Transportation Plan funding. Eligible communities can apply to the WalkWorks Program. Others will need to consider other options like the new Statewide Local Share Account Program through DCED or the new federal Safe Streets and Roads for All Program through the USDOT. While none of those three sources has an imminent application deadline, there is plenty of advance prep work you could be doing now to get ready to apply in 2023. It should be noted that in each case, municipalities, counties, and planning organizations (MPOs and RPOs) are eligible applicants. But nonprofits and community organizations also have a role to play in encouraging local officials to pursue the funding and supporting the application and ensuing planning process.
There is no time like the present (with an eye to next year’s application windows) to work on educating the community about active transportation; engaging municipal officials, partner organizations and interested individuals; and starting to think about the potential for their area. To that end, we have a number of events and programs lined up for this fall:
• Safe Routes to School in PA – WalkWorks is offering three webinars this fall to introduce the concept of SRTS and get people excited about the possibilities for their school communities. Recordings and slide decks are available HERE for the September 28 and October 17 sessions; register HERE for the upcoming November 3 session.
• Statewide Active Transportation Summit – Bikes and Beyond – the PDC is partnering with Bicycle South Central PA to put on a full day program on bikes and other active modes on Saturday, November 12, from 8:30am to 3pm (with optional walking or biking tours to follow), on the campus of Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster.
If you would like to stay abreast of developments in Active Transportation, discover ways to improve your community's health and bottom line, and learn about ways to make the case for the same, sign up for the WalkWorks e-newsletter at bit.ly/WWnews2022.
Even if none of this is quite right for you, if you’re interested in the topic and want to figure out how to advance Active Transportation in your community, get in touch with us! We would love to talk to you about what you have in mind for your community and see what the next steps for you would be toward broadening the transportation options in your area. Feel free to email pawalkworks@padowntown.org and we can set up a time to talk.
Let’s work to plan and build connections within and beyond our communities and link together PA residents and visitors to the places they want and need to go. The best part is that it is good for all kinds of health: personal physical, mental, and financial health; community economic and public health; and the health of the planet!