| 08/16/2002 | The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), the regional planning agency for the Philadelphia-Camden-Trenton metropolitan area, is introducing a new bicycle safety initiative and has selected three communities in which to launch their Share the Road campaign:
Doylestown Borough and Township;
City of Chester;
University City, Philadelphia
A joint project of DVRPC, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Share The Road campaign's purpose is to increase bicyclist safety and comfort on the region's roads by altering the behavior of all road users through a public information and education campaign targeting bicyclists and motorists with messages regarding their respective rights and responsibilities.
The Share The Road campaign hopes to change attitudes and behaviors of all road users by increasing bicyclist's competence and confidence in mixed traffic and by improving motorist's awareness and respect for of bicyclists. "It became clear to us that although the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation placed Share the Road signs along state roads in the Philadelphia metropolitan region, no one understood what those signs meant," said John Madera, Senior Transportation Planner for DVRPC. "DVRPC applied to PennDOT for a Transportation Enhancement Fund grant in the year 2000 and then began the process of selecting communities in which to launch the Share the Road program," he continued.
The program will involve public information presentations, literature and general marketing of bicycle safety.
DVRPC serves as the official planning and review agency for the nine-county metropolitan region which includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania; and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer counties in New Jersey. Through data collection, research, coordination, and planning efforts, DVRPC sets a framework for governmental decisions affecting development within the Delaware Valley. |
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