Lansdowne Borough was awarded technical assistance from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s (“DVRPC”) Safe Routes to Transit Program. The program is a competitive technical assistance program periodically offered to municipalities in Greater Philadelphia that are interested in enhancing pedestrian and bicycle access to transit stations. As part of this program, DVRPC facilitated a meeting with representatives from Lansdowne Borough and Delaware County on April 8, 2019 to discuss pedestrian and bicycle access issues and opportunities around SEPTA’s Lansdowne Regional Rail Station.
Lansdowne residents are encouraged to take the Bicycle Planning Survey
The goal of this study is to identify regional bicycle connections through Upper Darby, Lansdowne, East Lansdowne, and Yeadon. Bicycle facilities help to promote public health and create non-motorized connections between people and trails, parks, schools, transit sites, and other key areas. Your feedback will be vital in helping the project team determine major destinations in the region, bicycle routes that are appropriate, safe, and accessible, and what improvements could be made to these and other potential bicycle routes to increase safety and encourage cycling.
Public Meeting Presentation
Background
In 2014 the Borough conducted a walkshed analysis as part of the 2012 Transportation and Community Development Initiative (TCDI). In the study, Lansdowne Central Business District Walk-Shed Improvements, one of the recommendations outlined was a design at the intersection of Lansdowne Avenue and Scottdale Road to construct a bump out on the southern corner of Scottdale Road in conjunction with a striped crosswalk to make the pedestrian experience more comfortable. Also, though advocacy of the Borough, Lansdowne Station was one of three stations surveyed as part of DVRPC’s Delaware County Bike-to-Transit Survey project. One outcome of the project is a set of recommendations for bicycle facilities that can be used to access the station. These recommendations were discussed in the session (see map attached). The most pertinent recommendation is a bike lane on Lansdowne Avenue from Madison Avenue to the municipal border. Because this bike lane would increase multimodal access and serve as a traffic calming strategy, it was discussed in detail during the session. Additionally, SEPTA plans to add bike parking to the north side of the station to support bicycle access. It is with this preliminary work that the Borough is actively seeking (August 2019) Bicycle Facility design experts to develop a plan and documentation for installing facilities concurrent with the PennDOT resurfacing of Lansdowne Avenue project in the second half of 2020. The Borough will seek grant funding to support the planning and implementation of this work.