Concept Overview

The Intermodal Transportation Concept is the University's effort to implement the Master Plan, which was approved by the Board of Trustees in 1999. The University Park Campus Master Plan (UPCMP) is the definitive document, which provides a blueprint for the future of University Park. The Master Plan envisions a campus that is more pedestrian-friendly and environmentally sustainable, with less dependence on cars, better mass transit, more use of bicycles and walking, enhanced open spaces, and infill instead of sprawl.

In order to accomplish the fundamental goal of a pedestrian-friendly and safe campus, Penn State planners and consultants have identified a campus-wide circulation strategy that is truly "intermodal" in which different forms of transportation interrelate effectively. This vision of campus includes many familiar ingredients such as:

• Enhanced accommodations for pedestrians and bicyclists
• Design of an efficient transit system
• Conversion of some road areas to "pedestrian first" zones and transit ways
• Control of some vehicular access to core campus
• Consolidation of core-campus surface parking into decks where possible
• Alternative parking on the periphery with efficient transit service to core campus

Fundamental to this concept is the need to address safety problems in core campus, especially between vehicles and pedestrians. Approximately 23,000 pedestrian crossings were counted along Shortlidge Road during a normal, 9-hour weekday period with about 50 near misses! Another basic need is to address vehicular congestion on core campus, which currently diminishes the efficiency of cross-campus transit. The Intermodal Concept proposes several new strategies aimed at solving these problems. They are:

• Creation of a people-oriented Pollock Mall between Burrowes and Shortlidge Roads including the HUB Plaza, a major new gathering space
• Creation of a Curtin Road transitway from Allen to Bigler Road to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of the bus system
• Creation of the Shortlidge Mall, a pedestrian-first zone between the Ritenour parking lot and Eisenhower Auditorium. The mall would increase pedestrian safety at an important crossing adjacent to the new Chemistry and Life Sciences Buildings
• Consolidation of core campus parking to decks where possible, with employee parking within a 5-10 minute walk of final destination
• Provision of low cost parking alternatives on the periphery of campus with efficient bus service to core campus
• Creation of transit stations to allow riders to change from regional to campus routes (CATA, Loop, Link)

Over the past year, McCormick Taylor Associates, expert consultants in traffic management, ran a feasibility study on all these concepts. They determined that the proposed concepts are feasible from a traffic impact perspective, and that this combination of changes would significantly enhance pedestrian safety and transit efficiency.

The Intermodal Transportation Concept offers a forward looking approach with numerous benefits -- from increasing pedestrian safety and ambience to offering alternative parking options to creating a more environmentally sustainable campus. This may be the first time since the conversion of Allen Street to Pattee Mall in the 1930s that such significant transportation improvements have been proposed at University Park. Now is the time to address our existing circulation problems - clogged roadways, slow transit, and pedestrian/vehicular conflicts - and develop a responsible, forward-thinking "intermodal" relationship among cars, busses, bicycles, and pedestrians on the University Park campus.