College Township will receive a $500,000 state grant for a planned bike and pedestrian path connecting to the Penn State campus, the Department of Community and Economic Development announced this week.
The project is one of six in Centre County awarded a combined $1.63 million from the Multimodal Transportation Fund administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
Plans for the estimated $3.3 million College Township shared-use path have been in the works for several years. The 10-foot-wide, approximately 1-mile would run mostly adjacent to East College Avenue from Puddintown Road to an existing path at Hastings Road near University Drive, Assistant Township Manager Mike Bloom said last summer.
“Proactive, strategic investments that strengthen Centre County’s infrastructure is a good-government initiative that appeals to everyone. I applaud this funding and look forward to seeing these projects become a reality,” state Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, said in a statement. “The East College Avenue project in particular is something that I was involved in as a member of College Township Council, and I am excited about much-needed improvements along this vital corridor to campus and the downtown area.”
The path, Bloom said last year, would be designed “to get bikers and hikers and walkers off of the shoulders, away from the travel lanes into a safe facility to get them from point A to point B.”
As part of the land development process for the Aspen Heights student housing project on Squirrel Drive, the developer agreed to construct missing sidewalk connections along East College Avenue leading up to Puddintown Road. In exchange for a waiver for a new sidewalk adjacent to the Aspen Heights property on the south side of East College, the developer committed to filling in the gaps between WR Hickey and the Hilton Garden Inn and from the Hilton to Puddintown Road.
The new path would pick up from there for a continuous connection to campus.
“This highly anticipated project had previously been identified as a missing link in the regional transportation network in the township’s Pedestrian Facilities Plan, Centre Region Bike Plan and Penn State’s Bicycle Master Plan,” College Township Council Chair Dustin Best said in news release.
College Township also has applied for $1.5 million for the project from PennDOT’s Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside program. Awards from that program for 2024 have not yet been announced.
The township has committed $830,000 in local funds for the project.
Bloom said that once funding is aligned, the project is expected to take about two years from design to completion.
OTHER COUNTY PROJECTS AWARDED FUNDING
• Gregg Township was awarded $400,000 for phase two of a project to reconstruct and widen Bitner Hollow and Middle roads.
“I was more than happy to advocate on behalf of leadership in Gregg Township when they approached me personally about funding for the Bitner Hollow Road-Middle Road project,” state Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, said in a statement. “These are the type of investments our constituents expect us to make in order to maintain local infrastructure, and I applaud the township supervisors for taking the initiative.”
• Philipsburg Borough received $309,989 for roadway reconstruction along Powder Magazine Road and Port Matilda Highway.
• Taylor Township will get $200,000 to repave South Mountain Road.
• Rush Township was awarded $104,000 for improvements to Medical Center Drive.
“As we invest $613,989 to rehabilitate South Mountain Road and enhance Medical Center Drive, we build a foundation for safer journeys for drivers, as well as bridge connections throughout Centre County,” state Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, said in a statement.
• Snow Shoe Township received a $118,688 grant for ongoing rehabilitation to Kato Road.
“This funding and the improvements to Kato Road will be very helpful for not only traditional vehicles, but also ATVs that travel on Kato Road,” Rodney Preslovich, Snow Shoe Township Board of Supervisors chair, said in a news release.
