America deserves high-quality rural transit. We can make it here in Centre County.
PennDOT is trying to build a highway that nobody asked for, endangering rural agricultural and forest heritage, entrenching car-dependency, and accelerating climate change.
Help fight back by promoting this alternative project.
Explore the plan for a better Centre County:
Car-dependency represents government overreach, forcing people to buy cars for daily errands, and taking away our freedom to travel how we want. PennDOT needs to provide sidewalks, trails, and transit, not another highway.
Centre County has a long history of railroading. By reusing historic railroad rights of way, but deploying modern technology, we can bring fast, efficient, and effective rail transit to Nittany, Penns, Bald Eagle, and Logan Valleys.
The planned highway involves massive environmental damage, running a 170’ wide right of way through farms and forests. Trains and trails are a much less destructive 15’ wide, and legacy rights of way can further minimize impact.
For over 100 years, it has been known that building more highways doesn’t solve congestion. The only thing that can meaningfully improve road traffic is giving people a safe and convenient alternative to driving.
Car-dependency leads to obesity, poor diet, inactivity, and, of course, death by automobile accident. In contrast, active transportation leads to healthy lifestyles from walking and biking everywhere daily, no gym membership required.
Building and maintaining roads is one of the country’s largest expenses, but roads are incredibly inefficient at moving people. Transit and bike alternatives are not only cheaper to build, but also cheaper than car ownership.
Cars dilute economic wealth by making everywhere uniformly drivable. Transit, bicycle trails, and walkability instead enrich communities and raises business and tax revenue, especially around stations and trail amenities.
Climate change is the worst threat ever faced by humanity. Private automobiles are the largest source of carbon emissions, and electric vehicles aren’t much better. Ending car-dependency is the best strategy to save the environment.
Currently, access to the outdoors is limited by driving to a lake or trailhead. This is inequitable for those without a car and harms the nature they’re visiting. Transit and trails to parks and nature helps protect the environment.