Seeking safe bicycle routes in Dauphin, Lebanon counties
If the plan works out, there will be safe bike routes stretching from Harrisburg to Palmyra.
(Hershey) — Seven municipalities have already given preliminary approval to a grant application that seeks to fund a study of safe bicycle routes in Dauphin and western Lebanon counties. The study would suggest ways to link existing bicycle paths to neighborhoods, employment and commercial centers.
Derry Township Supervisor Sandy Ballard is leading the initiative. She says it’s a cooperative effort to find inexpensive, practical solutions.
“If we have an overall, organized approach to this… then, as individual municipalities have time and resources, they might be able to paint in a few bike lanes for example,” she explains.
If it all works out, Ballard says there will be safe bike routes stretching from Harrisburg to Palmyra. She’s seeking a $40,000 Regional Connections Grant from the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, to go along with a 20 percent local match. Citing traffic, health and environmental impacts, Ballard says safer bike routes are a benefit to the entire community.
