PennDOT awards $1.8 million for safer Route 15 trail crossing

Route 15 has long been the hard edge of the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail in Lewisburg, where trail users have had to cross one of Union County’s busiest corridors. PennDOT is now sending $1.8 million to the Union County Trail Authority to remake that crossing with a signalized crossing and a raised pedestrian center island, two changes aimed at giving walkers and cyclists a safer way across the highway.

The award was part of more than $74 million PennDOT announced statewide through the Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside program, a federal funding stream for pedestrian, bicycle, trail and safety projects. Similar money was also directed to projects in Shamokin, Lycoming County, Mifflin County and Schuylkill County, but the Union County piece stands out because it targets a specific choke point where recreation, local travel and highway traffic all collide.

The Union County Trail Authority, created by the Union County Board of Commissioners in 2018, owns and manages the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail and has been tasked with pushing future trail development. Union County has already framed trail safety as a live issue. During Bicycle Safety Month in 2025, the county said the authority was using safety decals and reminders for trail users and drivers, a sign that the Route 15 crossing has not been treated as a minor inconvenience, but as a known risk that needs structural change.

The rail trail also carries broader county meaning. Union County has described the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail as part of a wider trail network that connects to the Bull Run Greenway and Bucknell University, making the crossing relevant not only to casual riders and walkers but also to families, commuters and Bucknell-area visitors moving through Lewisburg. A signalized crossing and center island would give those users a clearer pause in the middle of Route 15, but the project is still a traffic and trail interface, not a cure-all for a road that remains a major arterial.

For Union County, the $1.8 million award marks more than a capital improvement. It is a public acknowledgment that the Route 15 crossing has been a safety problem worth redesigning, and that the county’s trail system is no longer just a recreation amenity. It is part of everyday transportation, and the people using it deserve infrastructure that matches the risk.