THE LAKE AUGUSTA GATEWAY CORRIDOR PLAN A SMART TRANSPORTATION PLAN FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEDA-COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER MAY 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Steering Committee PennDOT Advisors Members Andrew Miller Anita Everhard Jim Baker David Mertz Brian Hare Matt Beck Dave Myers Eric High Jan Bowman Frank Nanna Gretchen Brosious Steve Pancoe SEDA-Council of Governments Team Ed Clarke Dan Ramer Tom Grbenick Trish Carothers Tom Reitz Brian Auman Malcolm Derk Dennis Robinson Adam Wynn John Delvecchio Charles Ross Kathy Hannaford Jim Eister Todd B. Roup Amy Davis Wes Fahringer Frank Sawicki Becky Digan Cory Fasold Jim Saylor Ken Gaydon John Shipman The Lake Augusta Gateway Corridor Plan is an initiative of the SEDA Council of Governments Community Jim Gilfert John Showers Resource Center. Regional planning for the Lake Augusta Steve Herman John Skotedis gateway corridor was funded through the Pennsylvania Stacy Hinck Todd Snyder Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. The plan was developed with public Ed Hovenstine Bryan Van Sweden input and with the assistance of diverse public-private Shelia Hartung Todd Troxell stakeholders representing local and county governments; Jeff Hunt Kim Wheeler local and regional organizations; area residents, business and property owners; and state and regional agencies. Cindy Inkrote Skip Wieder For more information please contact: Joe Kantz Jesse Woodring Chris King Randy Yoxheimer Tom Grbenick, Director Community Resource Center Alan Lichtenwalner Pat Mack SEDA Council of Governments Julia Marano 201 Furnace Road Lewisburg, PA 17837 Ed Markowski Joe McGranaghan 570-524-4491 Shawn McLaughlin [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE SELECTED REFERENCES A Call to Action 1 North Central PA Public Transportation Needs Regional Development Opportunity 3 Assessment; Gannett-Fleming, Inc.; 2011. About the Plan 9 Coming Together—Sunbury’s Plan for the New Community Character And Context 13 City; SEDA-COG Community Resource Center; 2011. A Regional Vision 39 Smart Transportation Solutions 41 Susquehanna River Sports Park Feasibility Study; The Smart Transportation Plan 67 SEDA-COG Community Resource Center; 2010. The Action Strategies 93 Fixed Transit Study—Sunbury Transit Feasibility Organizing The Gateway Community 125 Study Final Technical Memorandum; Michael J. Baker; 2009. Afterword 129 Appendix 133 Valley Vision 2020—A Plan for Pennsylvania’s Heartland; SEDA-COG Community Resource FIGURES Center; 2008. Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway Figure 1 — Regional Attractions 5 Transportation Study; SEDA-COG Community Figure 2 — Regional Location Map 13 Resource Center; 2007. Figure 3 — Lake Augusta Gateway Community 13 Figure 4 — Aerial View Lake Augusta Gateway Corridor Northumberland County Comprehensive Plan; 15 2005 Figure 5 — Regional Zoning Map 34 Lower Anthracite Transportation System Fixed Figure 6 — Regional Land Use Map 36 Route System Figure 7 — Lake Augusta Gateway Corridor Master Plan 39 Figure 8 — Roadway Categories 44 Figure 9 — Defining Contexts 44 Figure 10 — Key Map to Roadway Sections 45 Figure 11 — Standard Functional Highway Classification Scheme 64 Figure 12 — Existing Smart Transportation Classification Scheme 65 Figure 13 — Proposed Smart Transportation Classification Scheme 66 Figure 14 — RiverLink Concept Diagram 69 LAKE AUGUSTA GATEWAY CORRIDOR A CALL TO ACTION Building Regional Identity in the Middle Susquehanna Regional institutions of higher learning have invested in new research Valley and education facilities at Shikellamy Marina. Plans have been advanced for the development of a river sports park and boathouse Over the past decade we have seen the continued emergence of new at Routes 11-15 and a migratory fish passage at the Adam T. Bower ideas for living, working, and playing in the Middle Susquehanna Memorial Dam in Shamokin Dam. Valley. Plans have been laid locally and regionally to build a better tomorrow in the Lake Augusta gateway area connecting Sunbury, Northumberland and Shamokin Dam. Sunbury’s Plan for the New City sets forth a compelling vision for new urban living focused on its place-based assets—assets like the Susquehanna riverfront, its historic downtown and neighborhoods, and its proximity to recreational amenities at Lake Augusta and Shikellamy State Park. LAKE AUGUSTA GATEWAY CORRIDOR 1 Regional communities have joined forces to explore ideas and Integrating Transportation, Land Use and Economic strategies for connected river town development. Proposals have Development been advanced for state Heritage Area designation and new projects continue to shape the Susquehanna Greenway experience. This plan is focused on achieving results which stem from contemporary planning philosophies and development models for both smart growth On an even broader scale, SEDA-COG’s 11-county regional plan, and smart transportation. It provides direction that communities in Valley Vision 2020, targeted the Lake Augusta gateway area as one the gateway region can use to enhance their individual and collective of the region’s top areas for sustained public-private investment—a prospects. regional community and visitor destination which capitalizes on the locational advantages, recreational and environmental assets of the Because transportation planning, design, and development permeate Susquehanna confluence area. all aspects of community and economic development it is perhaps the most logical place to begin. This effort has focused largely on understanding and advancing the implementation of PennDOT’s Smart Transportation idea in the context of a regional community. Future Vision for Lake Augusta Gateway Communities Municipal governments can and must become better partners with Lake Augusta is in the eyes of many an underdeveloped community PennDOT and others in shaping the regional transportation system. and regional asset. The future use and enjoyment of this resource Active and constructive engagement with PennDOT will achieve results and the economic development of the communities connected along that work for the area, that fit the community and environmental its urbanized shoreline requires new vision, action strategies, and the context of the area, that meet the widest possible range of land use alignment of public-private development interests and investments. and transportation objectives, including those relating to alternative The future will place new burdens on the area’s transportation transportation modes such as walking, bicycling, and public transit. system. But it will also create new opportunities for building an even Special thanks are due to the many stakeholders who contributed to more functional and efficient system—a Smart Transportation system this planning process and to forging a new vision for the area and to compliment, enable, and accommodate desired development in its transportation system. Through organization and ensuing public- the future. Smart transportation is all about linking land use and private action the Lake Augusta gateway region is poised to make its transportation planning to create great places. mark and realize its fuller potential for living, working, and visiting. We have an opportunity to chart this course and to shape a future development agenda for the Lake Augusta gateway region. This plan—The Lake Augusta Gateway Corridor Plan—is the beginning of a multi-faceted and multi-phased approach to smarter growth and smart transportation in the region. It lays groundwork for building an effective transportation network, a network of systems to serve community and regional needs well into the future. 2 LAKE AUGUSTA GATEWAY CORRIDOR LAKE AUGUSTA GATEWAY CORRIDOR A REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY Transportation Development in the Lake Augusta region markedly more accessible to markets and visitors Gateway Corridor over the 20th century. Transportation investments shape the prominence of Through it all, people have connected to communities communities, their social vitality and economic prosperity. via their downtowns and neighborhoods—urban places Today as in the past, for better or for worse, the impact of connected by a well-developed network and hierarchy of transportation systems and technologies is of fundamental humanly scaled and gridded streets, alleys, sidewalks and importance to community and economic development. crossings. Regional transit connections opened outlying areas to new development for work and commerce. Communities in the Lake Augusta gateway area benefit from a modern transportation system. But the system’s Somewhere in the course of this advancement, however, we ability to address access, mobility and safety is not lost our focus. We built our communities almost exclusively unstressed. And the ability of the present system to meet to accommodate the passage and parking of motor vehicles future needs will be increasingly challenged as local and frequently to the detriment of other transportation populations shift, grow and settle; as communities build; and modes such as walking and bicycling. What was once as recreation and tourism attracts even more visitors to the natural and fundamental to daily living is now more often Susquehanna River—River Town—Lake Augusta experience. relegated to the status of a “transportation enhancement”. The development of Lake Augusta perpetuates the region’s Regional Character and Identity history as a destination for transportation-connected The urban communities comprising the Lake Augusta settlement and economic activity.