By LAURA JAMESON ljameson@lockhaven.com
LOCK HAVEN - The City of Lock Haven, Clinton County Government and a local group are working together to find a good connection between the municipality and the Bald Eagle Valley Trail in Castanea Township.
During council's meeting this week, Councilmember Barbara Masorti - who is a member of the Active Transportation Committee - spoke about recent work in connecting the BEVT to the city and other ways the committee is working to create an Active Transportation Plan.
"On Friday (May 30) the Active Transportation Committee did a test bike ride around town with one of the goals being to connect the Bald Eagle Valley Trail from the Castanea section to the city," Masorti said.
Masorti said those participating in the bike ride were Jeff Raykes, of Stuart Group Consulting - a subconsultant for the plan, County Planner/Engineer Steve Gibson, herself, City Planner Abbey Roberts and two members of Friends of the BEVT, Pete Smeltz and Wayne McCullough.
"We had a great ride until it started to rain (but) it was nice," Masorti said.
Masorti said one of the discussions included the potential of Castanea officials placing bike lanes in certain areas to allow for safe passage for cyclists into the city.
These lanes could potentially be incorporated on Hanna Street, up until the city line. That, Masorti said, is where a challenge could be met.
"Castanea has enough room to go out onto Hanna Street. As soon as you hit the city limit we lose that third lane and there's not enough room to put a bike lane in," she said. "So we're looking at how we can designate a bike lane that gets you from the trail, into the city and safely moves you around the city on your bike."
The Express previously reported on work being done for BEVT, following the completion of its fifth phase on the Pine Creek Township side of Katie's Crossing in May.
According to information provided by the county's planning department, the connector between the city and the Castanea trailhead - known as phase 6 - is listed under its construction phase.
Phase 6 is the spur connection to the City of Lock Haven that has been designed and is a shovel ready project. This section will connect the trail from the Train Station in Castanea back to the City of Lock Haven. The trail will be constructed along Caroline Avenue towards the Jarret Avenue Bridge where an ADA compliant ramp will be constructed. It will cross over and back under the bridge and run along Creek Road where it will make connections with Hanna Street and to the City of Lock Haven.
Masorti said the bike ride wasn't the last thing the Active Transportation Committee did Friday.
Members of the committee and city staff also set up an informational table at Downtown Lock Haven, Inc.'s First Responders Final Friday to speak to the public about what they would like to see in terms of biking, walking and other forms of transportation outside of motor vehicles.
"We talked to a lot of people downtown about what they're looking for as far as biking, walking and skateboarding within the city," Masorti said.
Masorti said a large part of the discussion centered around the ability to use alleys to give cyclists safe passage through the city.
"A lot of people had never thought of that, so it was a great suggestion. It was a really great opportunity to kind of show the city off to other folks and have a lot of good input from people in the city," Masorti said.
The Active Transportation Plan is funded by the city, Clinton County Government and Pennsylvania Department of Health's WalkWorks Program administered by the Pennsylvania Downtown Center.
The city previously sent out a survey to the community to gather input, which its committee of stakeholders will utilize when it completes its plan.
Once the plan is developed, it will be considered for adoption by council in September.
