About Active Transportation Planning
SPC’s approach to pedestrian and bicycle planning places an emphasis on active transportation. Use of the term “active transportation” highlights the growing recognition of the connection between public health outcomes and transportation planning.
Active transportation is human-powered transportation that engages people in healthy physical activity while they travel from place to place. People walking, bicycling, using wheelchairs, skateboarding, and rollerblading are engaged in active transportation. Active transportation supports transit use, since many people reach transit stops using active travel modes.
SPC’s Active Transportation Forum provides a venue for members to identify local and regional bicycle and pedestrian issues and share information on needs and opportunities. Through collaboration supported by this Forum, SPC facilitates regional activities to improve conditions for walking and biking. The Forum includes representatives from SPC-member counties, the City of Pittsburgh, transit agencies, PennDOT, public health departments, trail organizations, and organizations representing pedestrians, bicyclists and persons with disabilities.
2018 Regional Active Transportation Plan (pdf)
Visit the Active Transportation Resource Center!
Links
 Healthy Ride Bike Station, City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County
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Active Transportation Video Overview
Leann Chaney talks about SPC's Active Transportation Forum and remarks on some of its many recent accomplishments and activities.
Activities
Planning for Active Transportation
Successful regional planning recognizes and builds on existing planning efforts. Through outreach conducted as part of the long range planning process, strategies emphasizing a strong focus on safe and reliable multimodal transportation, adequate maintenance of transportation infrastructure, and developing sustainable active communities were consistently shown as important themes. Based on this feedback, staff set out to develop a new and important component to the region’s long range plan. This document, the Regional Active Transportation Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania, will provide not only a cohesive vision for primarily non-motorized travel across the region, but also technical guidance to local governments seeking to achieve their respective local active transportation goals.
Plan development has been completed and staff anticipates adoption by the Southwestern Planning Commission in 2019.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Data Collection Program
SPC has launched a pilot bicycle data collection program which involved collecting short-term automated bicycle counts at locations in the region, including trails and mixed traffic settings. The pilot program will provide a foundation for development of an ongoing non-motorized data collection program as well as a counter lending program.
 Panhandle Trail, Washington County.
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