Reading to use $20,000 Pa. grant to create a more walkable city

Reading received a $20,000 state grant to develop a more pedestrian and bike friendly city.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced Tuesday that 10 municipalities received WalkWorks grants totaling $160,000 to help the municipalities create active transportation plans and policies to increase physical activity.

Reading will use the funds to develop an active transportation plan with the focus of connecting more people to the downtown.

“The city’s vision is to improve conditions for walking and biking along several key corridors, as well as increase trail connections and access to recreational opportunities to create a reinvigorated central core,” said Naomi Crimm, a planner with the city. “The Active Transportation Plan will focus on better connecting people to downtown Reading, and will serve as a starting point for future plans and policies in the city as a whole.”

Grant recipients are expected to work over the next year with professional transportation and community planners to collect data, assess current conditions and desires, and incorporate public input to create the transportation plan.

“WalkWorks is concentrating on bringing a complete streets mindset to transportation planning in communities around the commonwealth,” said Samantha Pearson, Healthy Communities Program Manager at the Pennsylvania Downtown Center and coordinator of the WalkWorks Program.

“How we live is a product of where we live,” Pearson said. “We are now recognizing that the design of many of the places we have built has had unintended consequences, damaging individual and community health.  For many years planners and urban designers looked at public space in terms of form, function, and aesthetics; economic developers pushed to enhance the vitality of the local economy; and health practitioners worked to improve community health all in separate silos. But we can – and should – all be working together. Our collaboration can lead to healthier people, more resilient communities and stronger local economies.”

Source: Berkshire mont