Study Examines Transportation Needs in Benner Pike Corridor. Here’s How the Public Can Offer Input

The Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization has completed a draft study of current and future transportation needs along Benner Pike in the Bellefonte area, and the public is invited to offer feedback.

The Benner Pike Land Inventory and Corridor Study examines current and future transportation needs through 2055 for the 2.7‑mile segment of State Route 150 from Myrtle Street in Spring Township to Penntech Drive in Benner Township.

A 30‑day public review and comment period began Monday and continues through May 13. Draft study recommendations are available online and in hard copy form at the Centre Regional Planning Agency, 2643 Gateway Drive, Suite 4, State College, and the Centre County Planning and Community Development Office in the Willowbank Building, 420 Holmes Street, Suite 340, Bellefonte.

The CCMPO will host public open house sessions to share the draft recommendations, field questions and garner input from 3 to 4:30 p.m. and 6 to 7:30 p.m. on April 30 at the Benner Township Municipal Building, 1224 Buffalo Run Road, Bellefonte.

Comments also can be submitted through May 13 via the CCMPO website and by email to gkausch@crcog.net.

Led by the CCMPO in conjunction with local municipalities, PennDOT and community stakeholders, the draft study provides recommendations to improve corridor operations, safety access management, land use coordination and multimodal considerations.

Public input will help to refine the study before a final version is adopted, which is expected to occur this summer.

The Benner Pike corridor has undergone a development boom over the last decade, something that was envisioned when the stretch of Interstate 99 between Bellefonte and State College was completed more than 20 years ago.

“…’Vision 2020,’ I think is what they called it at the time, all this growth and all this impact, and it’s probably about 15 years behind schedule in that regard,” Centre County Commissioner Dershem said in 2025. “I think you’re seeing a lot of the development, a lot of the growth, realizing that you now have a major artery between State College and Bellefonte which has the capability of accepting a lot of business. And you’re seeing a lot of residential growth in the Benner Township area, and it all just fits hand in glove, I think, to the future of what Centre County in that area is going to look like.”

As the area continues to develop the Land Inventory and Corridor Study offers a long list of recommendations for addressing transportation and land use. Each is rated as a low, medium or high priority and includes planning level cost estimates ranging from less than $25,000 to more than $5 million.

The study also identifies the proposed implementation timing for each recommendation, from short-range of one to four years to long-range of seven years or further, as well as whether the CCMPO, PennDOT, Benner Township or Spring Township would be the lead agency.

See all of the recommendations in the document below.