ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Seniors and those with mobility concerns may already have enough of a hard time getting where they need to go, so a local panel is brainstorming on how to get federal funding to make day-to-day transportation a smoother ride for them.
In what seemed to be a consensus among the human services groups present at a Wednesday workshop with the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study, this U.S. Department of Transportation Section 5310 money benefiting transit-dependent people is needed to:
- Revitalize urban and suburban sidewalk networks
- Put in brand-new bus stops instead of the more costly option of retrofitting them
- Improve bus stops and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) access for those using public transit
- Hire more private drivers for seniors looking to run errands or travel for nonemergency purposes
- Expand ADA-accessible vehicle fleets
- Take another look at current LANTA bus travel to address what’s said to be cases of routes being too long
- Expand paratransit options
- Educate seniors and their loved ones on the transit services available to them
- Inform people who have never used public transit how to use the payment software
Organizations present included but were not limited to Northampton County, LANTA, ShareCare Faith in Action, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and Senior LIFE.
Applications for the Section 5310 funding are expected to be open in July. A 20% local match will be required, though no specific amounts have been mentioned at this date.
One chart from the Federal Transit Administration shows over $285 million was distributed nationwide as part of the FY 2020 allocations.
A broader plan
The funding they’re after could come from further building out parts of the LVTS Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan.
That plan centers around understanding which of the region’s communities or areas are at a disadvantage due to a lack of transportation for those with disabilities, of higher age and/or of low income, officials said.
“The plan provides strategies for meeting those local needs and prioritized transportation services for funding and implementation."Lehigh Valley Transportation Study website
“The plan provides strategies for meeting those local needs and prioritized transportation services for funding and implementation,” the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission website reads. “A coordinated plan must also incorporate activities offered under other programs sponsored by federal, state and local agencies to greatly strengthen its impact.”
LVTS data being referenced at this time shows:
- The highest amounts of those ages 65-plus live in the suburbs, whereas denser cities seem to have lower percentages of these people.
- Though people live with disabilities in all areas of the Lehigh Valley, Whitehall and Hanover townships (Lehigh Co.) have the highest percentages in the region.
- As expected by some at the meeting, households without a car are mostly within the area's cities.
- Low-income households are more prevalent in the cities, but some outlying boroughs like Bangor and Slatington have them, too.
- Most zero-vehicle households are located in the inner cities and downtown areas of Easton, Bethlehem and Allentown, but also the southern half Nazareth and the northern part of Northampton.
- The townships of Lower Milford, Hanover in both Lehigh and Northampton counties, East Allen, Moore and the western part of Lower Saucon all need broader paratransit options.
Only getting bigger
Officials say it’s due time to get going on the funding application, as the region is only getting bigger — and with that comes broader needs for better transportation and roadways.
“We all know this in this room, but it’s important to verbalize it: We’ve gone from a medium-sized region to a medium-large region, like within 10 years. And we’re fast-tracking it to large.”Becky Bradley, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
“We all know this in this room, but it’s important to verbalize it: We’ve gone from a medium-sized region to a medium-large region, like within 10 years,” said Becky Bradley, LVPC executive director. “And we’re fast-tracking it to large.
“The moment we hit a million people, we’re considered large by federal definition.”
The Lehigh Valley’s population totaled 696,845 people in 2023, according to Lehigh Valley Economic Development. LVPC has estimated the region could grow by 100,000 people by the end of the decade.
The Lehigh Valley Transportation Study is an adjacent panel to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, “where we plan for transportation and then invest in transportation,” Bradley said.
The next workshop discussions on the matter will be at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 16 and Nov. 13. The group will meet at 615 Waterfront Dr., Suite 201, in Allentown.
