SEDA-COG adopts 2050 transportation plan covering Union County

Lewisburg’s road network and the traffic shifts already reshaping Route 15 are now folded into SEDA-COG’s 2050 Long-Range Transportation Plan, a regional blueprint that will steer which projects rise to the top for funding over the next quarter century. For Union County, the plan matters because it will influence where scarce state and federal dollars go for road repairs, safety work, transit access and freight movement as the county continues adjusting to the Central Susquehanna Valley Transportation Project.

SEDA-COG’s Metropolitan Planning Organization adopted the plan for an eight-county region that includes Union, Clinton, Columbia, Juniata, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland and Snyder counties. The MPO region covers 3,450 square miles and had an estimated 2023 population of 363,540. Executive Director Kim Wheeler said the plan will guide transportation investments for the next 25 years.

The long-range plan is meant to do more than list wishful projects. SEDA-COG says the LRTP is part of a continuous, cooperative and comprehensive transportation planning process that identifies transportation needs, goals, projects and policies for at least a 20-year horizon and is typically updated every five years. It also serves as the blueprint for transportation and economic investments aimed at network deficiencies, safety issues, mobility constraints, accessibility limitations and unsustainable development.

The 2050 plan will guide shorter-range decisions too, including Transportation Improvement Programs, Twelve-Year Programs and discretionary state and federal grant funding rounds. That makes the document especially important in places such as Lewisburg, where commuters, students, business traffic and freight all move through the same corridors and where future upgrades can change daily travel patterns quickly.

Public review ran from April 22 through May 22, 2026, and SEDA-COG held a public open house on May 4 at the Union County Government Center in Lewisburg so residents could review materials and offer feedback. The draft plan says it was developed with residents, a steering committee and local, state and federal agencies.

The timing of the new plan is shaped by projects already in motion. SEDA-COG’s timeline shows the Northern Section of the Central Susquehanna Valley Transportation Project opened in 2022, the Southern Section is expected in 2027 and the Route 61 connector is slated for 2028. PennDOT-related preliminary traffic estimates after the Northern Section opened showed Route 15 south of Lewisburg dropping from about 23,000 daily vehicles to about 16,000, with truck traffic falling from about 2,100 to about 1,500 daily trucks.

SEDA-COG’s first long-range transportation plan was adopted in 2011, and the organization became a metropolitan planning organization on March 27, 2013. The new 2050 plan extends that framework another generation, with Union County’s roads, bridges, freight routes and transit needs now competing inside a larger regional funding map.