A planned bicycle and pedestrian path long identified as a missing link in the Centre Region alternative transportation network is moving forward after receiving a big funding boost on Thursday.
College Township was awarded $1.5 million in state funding for a bike and pedestrian path connecting from Puddintown Road to the Penn State campus, PennDOT announced. The funding, which comes from the Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside program, is in addition to a $500,000 grant from from the Multimodal Transportation Fund awarded to the project in March.
Dustin Best, College Township Council chair, said in a statement that the combined funding “will enable construction of this much needed shared-use path.”
Plans for the estimated $3.3 million shared-use path have been in the works for several years. The 10-foot-wide, approximately 1-mile path would run mostly parallel to East College Avenue and would connect to an existing path at Hastings Road near University Drive, which is in State College Borough and on Penn State property.
“This College Avenue project was originally conceived when I was still a member of College Township Council, so I am thrilled about this very substantial grant award to help make it a reality,” state Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, said in a statement. “Enhancing the ability of pedestrians and bicyclists to navigate this very busy corridor in order to access the University Park campus and State College Borough will have a profound impact on residents, visitors and nearby businesses.
“This project will also connect to the existing network of existing trails, parks and facilities along and across Route 322. I am very proud to support impactful and significant projects like this and will continue to advocate for future bike- and pedestrian-friendly projects in our community.”
Offset from the roadway, the path would help provide a safe and continuous connection along the East College Avenue corridor. It will link the existing College Township Bike Path, which runs parallel to the Mount Nittany Expressway, with existing paths and bike lanes on campus and in the borough.
The path, Assistant Township Manager Mike Bloom said in 2023, 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.
The developer also agreed to contribute $75,000 to the new shared-use path. College Township filed a lawsuit last month against Aspen Heights for failing to pay that and other transportation infrastructure costs required as conditions of the land development plan for the project.
College Township has committed $830,000 in local funds for the project.
Bloom said on Friday that while the township may still pursue other grant opportunities, the MTF and TA Set-Asides funding enable the project to move forward this year.
“Our timeline remains contingent upon the execution of the grant agreements, but we anticipate commencing with design in late spring/early summer,” Bloom wrote in an email. “The full project schedule is estimated at 22 months, which would put project completion in 2026.
The College Township path was the only Centre County project among 55 statewide that were awarded a combined $49.5 million from the TA Set-Aside program for 2024.
“A diverse transportation network that is both accessible and safe is the cornerstone of healthy, connected communities,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll said in a statement. “I am excited to see the investment in communities around the state to improve access to critical services.”
