Active Erie
Help us create a Plan for people who walk and bike in the City of Erie, Pennsylvania
Transportation plays a critical role in every community. It connects people to places they need to go and people they need to see. Everyone has a right to get to their destination safely, whether traveling by foot, bicycle, bus, or car. Active forms of transportation like walking and biking provide a convenient, healthy, and affordable way to get around Erie.
We envision a network of streets that are beautiful, comfortable, and safe community spaces where people want to be, whether they are walking, riding a bike, taking transit, or driving a motor vehicle.
The City is working on an Active Transportation Plan to improve conditions for people walking and bicycling in the City, but we cannot do it without your help!
This ArcGIS StoryMap includes information about Erie’s transportation network, especially as it relates to walking and biking. After you review the StoryMap, you will have the opportunity to provide us with feedback on how we can make walking and biking safer for you and your family.
Destinations
Every time you leave your home, your journey starts on foot. Depending on how far you have to travel, you may decide to walk or bike to your destination. If the destination is further away, you may rely on using a motor vehicle – either public transportation or a personal vehicle.
The map shows some destinations in Erie including schools (purple icon), food stores (brown icon), and hospitals (red icon).
This orange, purple, and red shaded areas on this map show the area within a ten-minute walk of one of the destinations.
Click the magnifying glass above and enter your address to see if you are within a ten-minute walk of any destinations near your home.
Are there places near your home that you would like to walk to but you don’t feel comfortable doing so? There will be a survey at the end of this StoryMap where you can tell us about those locations.
People Who Walk
Everyone in Erie relies on active transportation infrastructure like sidewalks and crosswalks. Erie is built on a street grid that has sidewalks in most locations.
The City’s Public Works Department has been working to fill gaps in the sidewalk network and install Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant curb ramps across the City. However, there are still some gaps in the sidewalk network. The Active Transportation Plan will identify areas that still need improvement and make suggestions for how to fix them.
The map below shows existing sidewalks in grey, and signalized intersections in yellow. Areas that are missing sidewalks are highlighted in red.
Erie Sidewalks
Infrastructure like curb ramps and countdown pedestrian signals are especially important to ensuring the mobility and safety for members of Erie’s disabled population.
This map shows the percentage of the population that is disabled in Erie. Census tracts with higher concentrations of disabled people are darker purple in color.
In the census tract located in the center of Downtown, 764 residents have a disability, which represents over half of the population in that tract.
Click on the map to see the percent of the population that is disabled in that census tract. Use the arrows in the pop up window to view additional data.
Pedestrian infrastructure also helps other populations that may have challenges getting around including the senior population.
Census tracts with higher concentrations of seniors are teal in color. Click on the map to see the percent of the population that is over 65.
According to Planning Complete Streets for the Aging of America by AARP, 47% of older Americans say it is unsafe to cross a major street near their home.
Dedicated safe space for walking and bicycling also helps kids be active and gain independence.
Census tracts with higher concentrations of youth are green in color. Click on the map to see the percent of the population that is under 18.
The senior (65+) and youth (18 under) population make up what is called the dependent population. People within these two groups may rely on other members of their households to provide for their basic needs including transportation.
Providing safe ways to get around that doesn't require a car gives the dependent population more independence.
Click on the map to see the percent of the population that is considered dependent. Census tracts with higher concentrations of dependent population groups are orange in color.
Did you know that over 19% of Erie households do not have access to a vehicle? That’s one out of every five households.
Census tracts with higher concentrations of households without access to a vehicle are red in color.
In certain neighborhoods, that percentage is much higher. In the census tract located in the center of Downtown, 65% of households have no vehicle available, which represents 731 households in that area. Other census tracts, especially in parts of East Bayfront and Little Italy, have rates exceeding 40%.
Click on the map to see how the percent of households with no vehicle differs in census tracts across the City.
People who Bike
Bikes are a great way to get around Erie, whether for transportation or recreation. Erie already has over 10 miles of paved multi-use pathways, including the Bayfront Connector Trail. In the map below, the multi-use pathway network is shown in green.
Erie Pathways
Biking around the City for transportation often requires biking on the street with cars and trucks. There are some bike lanes in place around the city, but they do not yet connect to create a complete bike network. Existing bike lanes are shown below in pink.
Erie Bike Lanes
One goal of the Active Transportation Plan is to develop a low-stress bike network. A low-stress bike network is a connected system of on- and off-road bikeways that are comfortable enough for most people to use.
These networks are usually made up of streets with low-volume and low-speed automobile traffic, like the residential street on the right.
Protected bike lanes or pathways that are separated from automobile traffic are also considered low-stress.
In order to determine which streets might work well for a low-stress bike network, we took a look at how Erie streets work today. We looked at factors that impact how safe it feels to bike on the street including vehicular speeds (shown in the map to the right), traffic volumes, and the number of vehicular lanes.
Speed Limit Legend
Using a methodology developed by researchers with the Mineta Transportation Institute and supplemented by feedback from Bike Erie, we calculated the approximate level of traffic stress for each street segment on a scale of 1 to 4, where 1 is a low-stress place to ride and 4 is a high-stress place to ride. These levels are further explained by the chart below and shown in the map to the right where dark green represents 1, light green represents 2, yellow represents 3, and red represents 4.
The Effective Level of Traffic Stress Map reveals that there are “islands” of low-stress connectivity that are separated from one another by high-stress streets that function as barriers.
The map on the right shows high-stress roads (level 3 and 4) in white, and low-stress roads (1 and 2) in orange.
These barriers can make it uncomfortable or difficult to bike from one low-stress island to another, which is often necessary when using a bike to access destinations.
Use the + and - button on the lower right hand corner of the map to zoom in and see which roads separate neighborhoods and destinations in different parts of the City.
We need to hear from you!
We will use these maps and feedback from you to determine places where new bike infrastructure can be used to create a low-stress bike network.
We know there are gaps in the walking and bicycling network that we don’t know about. Please click the below button to take a survey that will help us improve transportation for walkers and people who ride bikes in Erie. At the end of the survey you will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to receive one of five $100 gift cards to a local Erie store.
Together, we can shape the future of walking and biking in Erie. Encourage your friends and family to check out this StoryMap and take the Active Erie Survey.
