Improving Local Transportation Equity and Access
Forks Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania lies directly outside the City of Easton with a population around 16,000. Forks incorporates a wide variety of land uses including residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional land uses. These land uses make transportation from within and outside the municipality vital to Forks for long term sustainability for residents and businesses. Ideas mentioned in this map and article align with the Forks Township Comphrensive Plan, LANTA transit supportive design, LVPC FutureLV, and the LVPC Walk/Roll Plan.
This interactive active transportation map has been created as a tool to map and identify barriers to walk, bike, and utilize transit around Forks Township.
Why Care?
Promoting active transportation helps increase connectivity, safety, the environment, and general equity. Active transportation includes walking, biking, as well as public transportation.
Investing in public transportation and bicycle and pedestrian facilities creates opportunities for people to exercise. This helps reduce obesity and the risks for developing costly chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Active transportation facilities are particularly important in low-income and minority communities, or communities with high percentages of new immigrants. People in those communities are less likely to own vehicles, and unsafe streets might pose a barrier to using active transportation.
US Department of Transportation
Existing Infrastructure
Sidewalk and trail access throughout Forks varies by neighborhood. New construction neighborhoods and development have been required to construct sidewalks on both sides of the street, however there are many older neighborhoods and developments with either no sidewalks at all or only on one side of the street. Crossing safety and visibility is also an issue in many areas around the township, with crosswalks being not visibly marked or poor visibility to see oncoming traffic. There is a distinct lack of “place” when walking or cycling throughout the township.
Sullivan Trail through the Town Center has the largest pedestrian infrastructure gap, with many sidewalk gaps and unsafe crossing points. The Town Center should be a primary focus on improving pedestrian and cyclist circulation with its proximity to shopping, parks, and higher density residential.
The Forks Township recreation trail network also acts as a local bike network. There are no dedicated bike routes or physically separated bike lanes within Forks. Some retail establishments, such as Giant and McDonalds in Town Center, have on-site dedicated bicycle parking. The recreation trails connect regionally with the Palmer Bike trail which also connects with the D&L trail and the Karl Stirner Arts Trail. A future trail connection can be made to the City of Easton along Sullivan Trail/Knox Ave to facilitate a safer pedestrian and cycling route.
Existing Public Transportation Options
Forks is currently served by the Lehigh and Northampton Transit Authority (LANTA) bus system. LANTA operates 2 fixed route buses as well as a flexible paratransit service for riders with disabilities. Current fare prices for LANTA can be found on their website: https://lantabus.com/fares/. Fixed route bus fares can be purchased on the bus with cash, ahead of time on the Transit or Token Transit apps, or at a LANTA ticket office. The closest LANTA ticket office is at Easton Intermodal Transportation Center in Downtown Easton.
Reliable and frequent transit access is vital to support those that either cannot drive or do not want to drive.
LANTA 214
https://lantabus.com/routes-and-schedules/route-214/
LANTA 214 provides weekday and Saturday service from Downtown Easton, through Forks on Sullivan Trail, to Forks industrial park. LANTA 214 operates hourly from 6am-10pm. LANTA 214 does not offer Sunday service.
Along its route, the 214 serves important destinations including Downtown Easton, Lafayette College main campus, Forks Town Center (grocery, fast-food, retail), Park Plaza (restaurants, retail), Lafayette College Metzgar fields, Braden Airpark, Weis, and Forks industrial park.
LANTA 217
https://lantabus.com/routes-and-schedules/route-217/
LANTA 217 provides weekday and Saturday service from Palmer Township and the Slate Belt. LANTA 217 runs on a limited schedule in Forks, having only 3 trips in the day from Monday to Friday as well as only 2 trips during on Saturday. LANTA 217 does not offer Sunday service.
The 217 mainly focuses on connections within the Slate Belt, with limited service to Forks and Palmer to connect the Slate Belt with the rest of LANTA’s network.
Paratransit
LANTA offers reserved call-ahead paratransit with their LANTAVAN service. This is available anywhere in Forks if you are a qualified rider. Pricing varies by location: https://lantabus.com/lantavan-fares/.
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