HARRISBURG — College Township has secured a $1.5 million state grant for the construction of a shared use path. The award announced on Thursday, April 25 in a press release, will be used to build a 10-foot path that connects from the new sidewalk on Puddintown Road to the 8-foot already existing path near Hastings Road in the State College Borough.
The funding is in addition to another recent grant of $500,000, which was awarded from the Multimodal Transportation Fund and administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
Together, the grants provide $2 million in state funding for the shared use path.
“Enhancing the ability of pedestrians and bicyclists to navigate this very busy corridor in order to access the University Park campus and State College Borough will have a profound impact on residents, visitors and nearby businesses, said Rep. Paul Takac. “This project will also connect to the existing network of existing trails, parks and facilities along and across Route 322. I am very proud to support impactful and significant projects like this and will continue to advocate for future bike- and pedestrian-friendly projects in our community.”
According to the press release, the connector will help form a one-mile path, filling a critical path in the regions bicycle and pedestrian network. It’s the goal of the project to provide a safe and continuous connection along East College Avenue. The path would run mostly parallel to East College Avenue and connect existing paths in College Township to paths on Penn States campus.
“College Township wishes to thank the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Representative Paul Takac, our partners State College Borough and Delta Development, the Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization and all of our supporters on this project.,” said Dustin Best, College Township Council chair.
