Cycle On: Cranberry Has Big Plans for Bikers

Cyclists in Cranberry may find the township easier to navigate, safer and more bike friendly. 

With new shared arrow lanes and signs on some roads, trails connecting parks and more bike lanes in the distant future, Cranberry Township has big plans to expand biking infrastructure.

“Probably some of the biggest comments we got back from the public was that they wanted more sidewalks and pedestrian connectivity, and they wanted more bike infrastructure so they could bike around the township,” said Cranberry Community Planner Joe Shafer.

Originally discussed as part of the Cranberry Plan, a vision for the future of the township, the outpouring of public interest spurred its own separate Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan in 2010.

Since then, Cranberry Township has seen an increase in shared arrow marks, which Shafer refers to as “sharrows,” and other signage cautioning drivers to be aware of cyclists and encouraging them to share the road.

Cycling Community

For long-time cyclist Brendan Linton, the plan is a positive change. A biker since the age of 12, Linton, now 18, today rides 15,000 miles per year.

Linton said he has watched the Cranberry cycling community transform and increase significantly. He now sees bicyclists of all ages, from 11 years old to senior citizens.

“Cranberry Township has improved,” Linton said. “We’re not a car-dominate society anymore.”

Concerned with bicycle and pedestrian safety, Linton created a video as part of his graduation project at Seneca Valley High School. He described the roads in Cranberry safe, but not perfect.   

If motorists and cyclists are educated about and follow the rules of the road, Linton said, “I think Cranberry Township would stand out as a place to bike.”

Progress So Far

Progress on CycleCT comes in bits and pieces.

Last August, the first segment of CycleCT, specifically the bicycle infrastructure plan for Cranberry Township, was completed by adding sharrows and signage that created a “bikeway” from Graham Park all the way to the township’s south border at Thorn Hill Rd.

Currently, the same infrastructure is being added along Mars Road and was added last month to Graham School Rd.  

Shafer said the township is always looking to improve or add trails, and said they received a grant in December for new trails in Graham Park. 

Ultimately, Shafer said he would love to see bike lanes in the future, but signs and sharrows cost less money to the township and are easier than tearing up the road to widen it and add a lane.

Bike lane additions would piggyback future road expansion and improvement programs in the township, Shafer said.

“Right now we’re just trying to get the markings in and the signage and just try to get things going,” Shafer said. “Our ultimate vision is to do bike lanes along all of these corridors, most of them if not all of them.”  

While cyclists, including Linton, still brave Route 19, Shafer said he would like to see the busy corridor included in the CycleCT plan even though it is a state owned road.

“We actively are pushing it and we have plans in place. [PennDOT]  knows its important to us,” Shafer said.

Shafer projected that CycleCT bicycle infrastructure as far as signage will be completed in the next few years.

“I think as [cycling] becomes more and more prevalent and popular. I think it’s just going to be one of those things that people accept as being normal,” Shafer said. “I’m in Cranberry Township. People bike here.”