Since the 1990s, when Lancaster County planners first established "urban growth areas" to preserve farmland, there has been a push toward "smart growth."

On Monday, county planners took smart growth beyond land planning by formally establishing a Smart Growth Transportation program to fund transportation projects within designated growth areas.

"I think it's an evolution," Lancaster County Planning Commission Chairman James Cowhey said of the program.

Smart Growth Transportation projects are intended to improve the quality of life for residents of the city, boroughs and suburbs.

They may include adding sidewalks to areas that do not have them, adding "traffic calming" improvements such as curb extensions at intersections to slow traffic, installing bus shelters to encourage transit use or adding crosswalks or medians for pedestrian safety.

The county's Transportation Coordinating Committee, a multiagency panel that decides funding for transportation projects, voted overwhelmingly to establish the program. The committee also approved allocating $1 million to the effort next year.

David Royer, the county's transportation planning director, acknowledged that $1 million does not go far with transportation spending, where a typical road resurfacing project can cost $2 million to $3 million and a bridge reconstruction can cost $25 million.

Royer said he expects the program to fund five or fewer projects per year.

Harriet Parcells, a county transportation planner, noted that program funding requires at least a 20 percent local match. She also hopes it will be used to leverage private funding through the creation of public-private partnerships.

Cowhey said the program becomes more important as transportation funding is anticipated to shrink 10 percent or more next year. Spending on comparatively inexpensive smart-growth projects, such as sidewalks and bike lanes, will provide alternatives to driving and help ease traffic congestion.

Ray D'Agostino, a member of the Smart Transportation Task Force that developed the program, readily agreed.

"Growth is going to happen. If we don't address it now, we're going to be stuck with the same network, the same corridors," he said.

Royer said he anticipates that Lancaster County's Smart Growth Transportation program will serve as a model for similar programs across the state. Only one similar program exists. That one, in Philadelphia, is limited to funding for studies of proposed projects.

The Lancaster program will fund studies, but it limits spending on studies to 20 percent. The remaining funding will be allocated to actual construction costs, Parcells said.

"The intent is not to do studies that will sit on the shelf," she said.

To educate municipal officials, planners and others interested in the new program, county transportation planners and the Coalition for Smart Growth will hold two forums.

The first, on July 20, will run from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Farm & Home Center, 1383 Arcadia Road. The second will be July 27, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center, 101 Champ Blvd.

bharris@lnpnews.com