Transportation in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

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A Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 at Williamsport Regional Airport, the airport is the areas main travel hub Delta Air Lines B757 144818.jpg
A Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 at Williamsport Regional Airport, the airport is the areas main travel hub

Transportation in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania has a long and varied history. The area was settled in the mid 1700s. Transportation was mostly using the Susquehanna River and railroad as Williamsport was a travel hub or center for Central Pennsylvania.

Contents

Modern transportation includes aviation, infrastructure such as roadways, bridges and highways.

Transportation demographics

Transportation to work as of 2011

  Drive (73%)
  Public Transportation (13%)
  Walk or bike (9%)
  Other (5%)

In an online poll done by the Williamsport Sun Gazette a majority (approx. 73%) of residents in Lycoming County 25 years of age and up get to work in a vehicle. 13% uses public transportation, 9% walk or bike to work and 5% other modes of transportation.

79% of 500 Lycoming county residents interviewed said that they have used public transportation at least once, and 73% of riders say they are happy with service. "Service" includes, fair prices, time and bus interior condition (trash on floor, broken seats etc.)

Transportation infrastructure

Bridges

Roadways

Over 3,500 miles of roadways throughout the county.

Railroads

History

Map of the Lycoming Valley Railroad (red) and Norfolk Southern Railway (blue) lines in Lycoming County. Lycoming Valley Railroad Map.PNG
Map of the Lycoming Valley Railroad (red) and Norfolk Southern Railway (blue) lines in Lycoming County.

Vast stands of timber and nearby coal deposits brought three early railroads to the Williamsport and Lycoming County area. After drifting logs down the West Branch Susquehanna River became impractical. Transporting logs and other goods by rail was faster and more business-friendly. After the logging boom from 1880 to 1930 the area railroads were used for passenger lines connecting Williamsport to Philadelphia, State College, Pittsburgh, Allentown and the Wilkes Barre-Scranton area.

The areas rail lines schedule has decreased in the past 25 years. As of 2011 <10 daily train movements in Lycoming County (excl. inter-county rail operations accounts for <5 daily rail movement).

Highways

Current highways

Highways in Lycoming County include Pennsylvania State Routes: 14, 42, 44, 87, 184, 284, 287, 405, 442, 554, 654, 864, 880, 973. U.S. Routes: 15 and 220. Also Interstate I-180.

Major roadways

The following are major roadways in Lycoming County:

Airports

There is one airport in Lycoming. Williamsport Regional Airport is a fully operational public airport with daily commercial flights. The airport serves Williamsport, Pennsylvania and the surrounding Lycoming County area and serves about 25,000 annual passengers. The airport is located five miles east of Williamsport, in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. It is owned by the Williamsport Municipal Airport Authority. [1]

Passenger numbers

YearPassengersChangeAirline
200919,753N/A US Airways Express
201022,457Increase2.svg 13.7%
201124,401Increase2.svg 8.7%
201225,949Increase2.svg 6.3%
201323,194Decrease2.svg 10.6%
201424,645Increase2.svg 6.3%
201521,886Decrease2.svg 11.2% American Eagle
2016N/A-

Growth and continued expansion

Airport

Existing terminal (1954-2018) that will be torn down in 2018 when replaced with new, modern terminal building. IPT old terminal (183700).jpg
Existing terminal (1954-2018) that will be torn down in 2018 when replaced with new, modern terminal building.

Williamsport Regional Airport received a $19 million expansion budget paid for by the Williamsport Municipal Airport Authority, local, state and federal governments to replace the old terminal and air-side improvements.

Other improvements other that the terminal include. Upgrades to the instrument landing system and runway safety area. Construction of a parallel taxiway, re-marking of the airfield to adhere to FAA directives. Construction of new taxiway “C” to the terminal ramp and upgrades to the airfield taxiways lighting system.

Roadways

Williamsport and county authorities along with PennDOT created a master plan through the year 2025. Which includes up-keep, construction and re-construction of area, highways and roadways.

Public transit

In 2015 the River Valley Transit Corp. introduce the new Trade and Transit II and upgrades to its bus terminal in downtown Williamsport. Also additions to bus routes and new natural gas busses with a cleaner burn. Which then produces reduced prices for riders. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lycoming County, Pennsylvania</span> County in Pennsylvania, United States

Lycoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 114,188. Its county seat is Williamsport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyalsock Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania</span> Township in Pennsylvania, United States

Loyalsock Township is a township in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 11,561 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the second largest municipality in Lycoming County, in terms of population, behind the county seat, Williamsport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plunketts Creek Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania</span> Township in Pennsylvania, United States

Plunketts Creek Township is a township in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It includes the villages of Barbours and Proctor. The population was 595 at the 2020 census, down from 684 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williamsport, Pennsylvania</span> City in Pennsylvania, United States

Williamsport is a city in, and the county seat of, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of 2020, it had a population of 27,754. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of about 114,000. Williamsport is the larger principal city of the Williamsport-Lock Haven Combined Statistical Area, which includes Lycoming and Clinton counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Branch Susquehanna River</span> River in Pennsylvania, United States

The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the Northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is generally regarded as the extension of the main branch, with the shorter West Branch being its principal tributary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lycoming Creek</span> River in Pennsylvania, United States

Lycoming Creek is a 37.5-mile-long (60.4 km) tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River located in Tioga and Lycoming counties in Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyalsock Creek</span> River in Pennsylvania, United States

Loyalsock Creek is a 64-mile-long (103 km) tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River located chiefly in Sullivan and Lycoming counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. As the crow flies, Lycoming County is about 130 miles (209 km) northwest of Philadelphia and 165 miles (266 km) east-northeast of Pittsburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lycoming Valley Railroad</span> Pennsylvania railroad

The Lycoming Valley Railroad is a short line that operates 38 miles (61 km) of track in Lycoming and Clinton counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. It is part of the North Shore Railroad System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susquehanna State Park (Pennsylvania)</span> State park in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

Susquehanna State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 20 acres (8.1 ha) in Williamsport in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is on the West Branch Susquehanna River in the western part of Williamsport, and is operated by the Williamsport / Lycoming Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Bureau of State Parks of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Susquehanna State Park offers cruises on a paddlewheeler, boating, fishing, and picnicking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Valley Transit</span>

River Valley Transit provides public bus transportation throughout Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Branch Susquehanna Valley</span>

The West Branch Susquehanna Valley of central Pennsylvania, United States, in the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians, is the low-lying area draining into the West Branch Susquehanna River southeast of the Allegheny Front, northeast of the Bald Eagle Valley, southwest of the Wyoming Valley and north of the water gap formed between Shamokin Mountain and Montour Ridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania</span>

This article details a history of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Herdic</span> American politician

Peter Herdic (1824–1888) was a lumber baron, entrepreneur, inventor, politician, and philanthropist in Victorian era Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. He was the youngest of seven children born to Henry and Elizabeth Herdic on December 14, 1824 in Fort Plain, New York. Herdic's father died in 1826 and Elizabeth Herdic remarried shortly thereafter. She was widowed again prior to 1837 when she moved her family to Pipe Creek, New York near Ithaca. Herdic attended school for just a few years while he worked on his mother's 50-acre (200,000 m2) farm. Herdic left his mother's farm in 1846 and arrived in Lycoming County later that same year, where he settled in Cogan House Township.

Williamsport was incorporated as a borough on March 1, 1806, and as a city on January 15, 1866. The city is the original home of Little League Baseball, founded in 1939 as a three-team league.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Hughes (underground railroad)</span>

Daniel Hughes (1804–1880) was a conductor, agent and station master in the Underground Railroad based in Loyalsock Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. He was the owner of a barge on the Pennsylvania Canal and transported lumber from Williamsport on the West Branch Susquehanna River to Havre de Grace, Maryland. Hughes hid runaway slaves in the hold of his barge on his return trip up the Susquehanna River to Lycoming County, where he provided shelter to the runaways on his property near the Loyalsock Township border with Williamsport before they moved further north and to eventual freedom in Canada. Hughes' home was located in a hollow or small valley in the mountains just north of Williamsport. This hollow is now known as Freedom Road, having previously been called Nigger Hollow. In response to the actions of concerned African American citizens of Williamsport, the pejorative name was formally changed by the Williamsport City Council in 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plunketts Creek (Loyalsock Creek tributary)</span> River in the US state of Pennsylvania

Plunketts Creek is an approximately 6.2-mile-long (10 km) tributary of Loyalsock Creek in Lycoming and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Two unincorporated villages and a hamlet are on the creek, and its watershed drains 23.6 square miles (61 km2) in parts of five townships. The creek is a part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin via Loyalsock Creek and the West Branch Susquehanna and Susquehanna Rivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonestown Covered Bridge</span> Covered bridge in Davidson Township, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania

The Sonestown Covered Bridge is a covered bridge over Muncy Creek in Davidson Township, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania built around 1850. It is 110 ft (34 m) long and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1980. It is named for the nearby unincorporated village of Sonestown in Davidson Township, and is also known as the Davidson Covered Bridge. It was built to provide access to a grist mill which operated until the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forksville Covered Bridge</span> Bridge over Loyalsock Creek, Pennsylvania

The Forksville Covered Bridge is a Burr arch truss covered bridge over Loyalsock Creek in the borough of Forksville, Sullivan County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It was built in 1850 and is 152 feet 11 inches (46.61 m) in length. The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The Forksville bridge is named for the borough it is in, which in turn is named for its location at the confluence or "forks" of the Little Loyalsock and Loyalsock Creeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillsgrove Covered Bridge</span> Bridge over Loyalsock Creek in Hillsgrove Township, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania

The Hillsgrove Covered Bridge is a Burr arch truss covered bridge over Loyalsock Creek in Hillsgrove Township, Sullivan County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It was built c. 1850 and is 186 feet (56.7 m) long. In 1973, it became the first covered bridge in the county to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The bridge is named for the township and nearby unincorporated village of Hillsgrove, and is also known as Rinkers Covered Bridge for an adjoining farm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plunketts Creek Bridge No. 3</span> Bridge over Plunketts Creek in Pennsylvania

Plunketts Creek Bridge No. 3 was a rubble masonry stone arch bridge over Plunketts Creek in Plunketts Creek Township, Lycoming County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It was built between 1840 and 1875, probably closer to 1840, when the road along the creek between the unincorporated villages of Barbours and Proctor was constructed. Going upstream from the mouth, the bridge was the third to cross the creek, hence its name.

References

  1. "Enplanements for CY 2008" (PDF, 1.0 MB). CY 2008 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data . Federal Aviation Administration. December 18, 2009.{{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  2. "Region gets boost in bus and air transport menu". Sun Gazette. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.