If you are in danger, call 911. If you need to exit this website quickly, click on the ESCAPE button. This button will immediately open a browser window for weather.com and replace your current window with google.com.

PA Walkable Communities Collaborative​

The mission of the Pennsylvania Walkable Communities Collaborative is to increase walking and expand walkable communities across Pennsylvania. The steering committee consists of the following nine agencies and organizations: 

The Pennsylvania Departments of Aging, Community and Economic Development, Conservation and Natural Resources, Health and Transportation; AARP; American Planning Association – PA Chapter; the Pennsylvania Downtown Center and the Pennsylvania State Alliance of YMCAs.

Engage Key Stakeholders

Understand Who Can Help

There are many people and entities involved in the process of planning, constructing, operating, and maintaining roads, sidewalks and shared-use trails. This section describes typical roles of agencies and groups involved in addressing pedestrian and bicycle issues and how to approach them for help.

Identifying Stakeholders and Strategic Partners to Catalyze Change

Identifying and engaging the right people in a community process or project to achieve a safer, more accessible, and more attractive atmosphere for pedestrians can be the difference between a project’s success and failure. Beyond identifying stakeholders, communities should work to form strategic partnerships and advisory committees to strengthen the planning process.

A Guide to Building Healthy Streets - Who are the Key Players in Complete Streets Implementation

There are a number of key stakeholders that should be engaged during discussions of creating a more walkable community. Pages 10-12 lists each of these key stakeholders and describes how they might lead or support implementation efforts.

Planning for Walking and Bicycling: Kentucky's Guide to Creative Active Transportation Opportunities in Local Communities

This resource describes the purpose, components and outreach strategies of pedestrian and bicycle planning.

Steps to a Walkable Community: A Guide for Citizens, Planners, and Engineers

This guide provides strategies to move towards a more walkable community.

Assess Routes for Walkability and Safety

Walkability Checklist

Everyone benefits from walking, but walking needs to be safe and easy. Take a walk and use this checklist to help determine if your neighborhood or community streets are a friendly place to walk.

Pedestrians First: Tools for a Walkable City

This tool is a mechanism for tracking, measuring and understanding the features that promote walkability in cities.

AARP Walk Audit Tool Kit

A step-by-step self-service guide for assessing a community’s walkability.

AARP Walk Audit Tool Kit Leader Guide

How to host a walkability workshop and community walk audit.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Friendly Policies, Practices, and Ordinances

This handbook provides information about practices, policies, and ordinances from various jurisdictions throughout the United States that enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety and accommodations. This report also highlights some educational campaigns that promote the Share the Road concept and encourage the use of non-motorized methods of transportation.

Massachusetts DOT: Municipal Resource Guide for Walkability

This guide is intended to provide communities with the tools and information needed to hold discussions on why and how to improve walkability.

Identify Priority Locations and Projects

Engaging the Community and Making a Plan

This guidance details how to design and implement a pop-up demonstration project.

Crossing the Street

This document focuses on the physical and design details that influence street crossings.

Improving Walkability within Existing Urban Design

A walkable community is a sustainable community. By identifying and focusing on areas where vehicle traffic severs otherwise walkable routes, communities can reconnect existing corridors and improve walkability without making major adjustments to street design.

Additional Resources

PennDOT's Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP)

The LTAP program is designed to help Pennsylvania's municipalities make the best use of their roadway maintenance dollars.

Transportation and Land Use Planning

Are you involved with municipal land use and transportation planning activities? Could your municipality use assistance to help shape future land use or transportation projects? Would you like to learn how to advance your community's planning and transportation-related goals? Have you heard about PennDOT Connects, but would like to know more about the free training and assistance available to your municipality? If you answered "Yes" to at least one of these questions, your community could benefit from PennDOT Connects Assistance.

TechSheet: Tools to Achieve Common Comprehensive Plan Goals

A truly effective transportation system accommodates all anticipated modes efficiently. This Tech Sheet lists some of the tools available to municipalities to minimize modal conflicts and provide for transit usage that can reduce single occupant vehicular traffic, thereby improving safety and reducing congestion.

Community and Local Government Assistance

This PennDOT published resource that explains funding sources for municipal and county governments. The document lists grants, reimbursements and loans available to communities and local governments for transportation related initiatives for 2017-18 and MPO/RPO contacts in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Active Transportation Plan

PennDOT developed its Active Transportation Plan in 2019. This plan outlines a vision and framework for improving conditions for walking and bicycling across Pennsylvania communities. The department is coordinating with planning regions and stakeholders across the Commonwealth to implement the plan.

Additional biking and walking resources are available on PennDOT’s Active Transportation web page, including a “How-To” Guide that serves as a resource for Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), Regional Planning Organizations (RPOs), counties, and local municipalities throughout Pennsylvania to update or develop an Active Transportation Plan.

Rural Walking in Massachusetts: A Tool Kit for Municipalities

This report provides an introduction to different types of walking facilities that can be constructed in rural areas.