Allentown’s Greenway Project

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to hop on a path and run for miles across town? A path on which you could stroll through city parks, past quaint neighborhoods and never lock eyes with motorists who try to run us down? What if you could hop on your bike and commute to work via pedal power?

One of the reasons why I love running at 5:00 a.m. is because the streets are relatively devoid of motorists whom these days seem to drive, at the very least, 10-15 miles over the speed limit and relish in giving me as little berth as possible on the streets, especially when they are the only car on the road at 5 a.m. It seems that the early morning driver’s thrill is to drive as close to me as possible and run me off the road.

As I run along, I dream of the time I was a resident of Eugene, Oregon where there are 30 miles of bike/pedestrian paths and 89 miles of on-street bike lanes in 41.5 square miles of city. I used to hop on my bike and ride for four hours straight throughout town, never fearing for my safety. For the past 15 years since returning to the Lehigh Valley I have dreamed of a network of trails and paths where I could bike and run, safe from motorists. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?

I kid you not, cars have tried to run me off the road. Not once, not twice, but a handful of times, and almost always when there were no other cars in sight. Now, I’m not knocking the motorists because I am a motorist myself. Growing up only a few short miles from the Velodrome, now Valley Preferred Cycling Center, I learned to share the road with local and visiting cyclists throughout the year. However, since becoming a runner I have become even more conscious about sharing the road.

It seems I’m not the only one with a dream. The Allentown Greenway Project is a plan which would help transform Allentown into a biker and pedestrian friendly city. On April 7th, Allentown City Council voted to accept the Greenway Project. This is a major accomplishment en route to a greener Lehigh Valley.

A greenway is a linear space, used by the public, linking parks and other areas through a town, city, or country. It consists of paths, trails, sidewalks, and vehicle-free roadside areas in which motor vehicles are not meant to be used.

Greenway projects have been popping up throughout the country over the last couple of decades as environmentalists and naturalists, as well as neighbors who care about their local resources and communities, work together to preserve them. Greenway projects come in many forms from Rails to Trails projects, biking and pedestrian paths, towpaths but they all have one common theme: preserving natural resources and enabling the community to enjoy them in a non-motorized fashion.

According to the City of Allentown, Department of Parks and Recreation’s April Newsletter, the next step towards implementation [of the Allentown Greenway Project] is to continue seeking multiple funding sources for facility development …

“Our first major goal is to improve park and trail signage by establishing a framework of sign types, informational hierarchy and design standards to create a uniformed, consistent and organized signage and way finding system.”

(click to enlarge)

Bike Allentown has been a strong voice throughout this initiative and is a great local resource for biking throughout the Lehigh Valley.

To learn more about the Allentown Greenway Project, please visit the following website:

Allentown Parks and Recreation
Allentown Greenway Project
Allentown Greenway Project Executive Summary
Allentown Trail Network Concept Plan