The Town of Penfield is seeking community input on an Active Transportation Plan.
The goal is to create more opportunities for cyclists and pedestrians to get around town safely.
“We're trying to create a forward-thinking and achievable plan that reflects your needs and desires for walking and biking in town,” said Tom Robinson, a landscape architect with Colliers Engineering and Design Firm.
The town of Penfield chose the firm to guide the development of the new plan. One element of the design process has been to identify zones of interest.
“If it's an unsafe intersection for vehicles, it's likely very unsafe for a pedestrian or a cyclist,” said Katie Darcy, a community planner at the engineering firm.
At a recent public meeting, Darcy pulled up a map of crashes in Penfield over the past five years using data collected by New York state.
Fifty-five of those incidents involved pedestrians and cyclists, she said. Many were clustered at intersections in commercial areas — some of the exact spots that the firm is looking to make more accessible.
“It starts to identify, you know, some hard and fast data that we can point to, to indicate where intersections feel unsafe, are uncomfortable and may pose a hazard to a pedestrian or a cyclist,” she said.
The firm is also looking at providing safer routes to schools as a critical aspect of the plan. That includes several school districts in the area: Webster, Penfield, Pittsford and Wayne.
“We'll be reaching out to the school districts to start to identify how we can better accommodate safe travel to school for children without relying on a school bus or Mom and Dad,” Darcy said.
Children and seniors are critical stakeholders in active transportation plans since those populations have the highest percentage of non-drivers, she said, so they’ll likely benefit more from reliable and safe transportation options that are car-free.
“Since I began my time as Town Supervisor in 2024, a goal of mine has been to improve connectivity in Penfield. The development of the Town’s Active Transportation Plan is a critical step forward to enhance safety and quality of life for our residents,” Supervisor Jeff Leenhouts said in a statement.
The town has an open survey that anyone can fill out regardless of where they live.
