Walkability a priority for Vandergrift as it awaits grant

Vandergrift officials say they’d like to make the town better for walking, biking and other modes of transportation besides vehicles.

But first, they need a plan.

That’s where WalkWorks comes in, a partnership between the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pennsylvania Downtown Center.

Since 2016, the program has given grants and technical support to municipalities looking to lessen car dependency and make everyday destinations, such as parks and shops, accessible in other ways.

It’s run by Sam Pearson, healthy communities program manager at the Downtown Center. She has been working with Vandergrift for nine months to apply for a $30,000 grant. Awards are announced in July. If chosen, the borough will use the funds to develop an Active Transportation Plan with lists of priority connections, potential trails and more.

Vandergrift Councilwoman Marilee Kessler stressed the grant would not directly fund any improvements.

“This grant we’re looking for is not a grant to fix sidewalks or streets or something like that. It’s a grant to determine what our needs actually are,” Kessler said.

The plan could, however, make it easier to get grants in the future. That’s been the experience of Trish Hredzak-Showalter, a Verona councilwoman who helped bring WalkWorks to her community in 2022.

“It’s completely worth it,” Hredzak-Showalter said. “You get more thoughtful, longer-lasting actions, and it definitely helps us get grants because you have this data and research to lean on.”

Verona recently was awarded $206,000 through the Commonwealth Financing Agency for park connectivity and sidewalk improvements.

“We don’t get too many grants this size,” Hredzak-Showalter said.

Vandergrift still has a lot of planning ahead. That can seem arduous, but improvements like safe intersections don’t happen on their own, Pearson said.

“Baby-steps forward is better than not moving at all or going backwards,” Pearson said. “Unfortunately, the system we have tends to leave you in stasis or getting worse.”

Kessler said she’s particularly excited to explore ways to connect Vandergrift with other communities, such as collaborating with Parks Township to make the Rudy Minarcin Memorial Bridge better for pedestrians.

“Vandergrift hasn’t really participated in cooperative efforts like that before,” Kessler said. “As a small, older town, we’ve mostly been focusing on taking care of our own infrastructure.”

Nearly 60 communities have benefited from the program, including Greensburg, Delmont and Churchill.

No local match is required for WalkWorks approval, but most other grants ask applicants to put up some money, Pearson said.

Any community can apply, but certain ones get priority. The Department of Health has designated 12 counties as especially in need of these grants, though Westmoreland County is not one of them.

Vandergrift does, however, qualify as an environmental justice community, which weighs factors like air quality and income levels.

“The reason we qualify for this grant is because we’re not among the healthiest communities in Pennsylvania,” Kessler said.

This nationwide rethink of public transportation planning has only been around for 10 to 15 years, according to Aleksandar Stevanovic, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.

He noted that the spread of multimodal transportation to small towns “is definitely progress” toward reducing overall car dependency.

In Kessler’s view, it’s time for Vandergrift to become more friendly for walkers and bikers.

“There’s a lot to be said for walkable communities,” Kessler said. “I’m in my early 70s, so I see it as a nice way to safely walk without tripping.”