Time Is Enemy, Ally In 422 Discussions

POTTSTOWN PA – In the debate over the future of U.S. Route 422, its traffic congestion, and the loss of its surrounding open space, time has become both an enemy and an ally.

A woman reads information presented last week during meetings on the future of U.S. Route 422.

With each passing week, according to the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), the 25-mile Route 422 Corridor loses more of its rural character. Yet planners believe that, by sparking public discussion now about what might be done to avoid problems down the road – literally and figuratively – there will be enough time to stop or even reverse the trend.

And in just eight days since that discussion was most recently resumed, planners have already received a tentative but crucial editorial endorsement.

The current state of, and the time line for finding solutions to, mounting commuter woes on 422 were subjects of a public meeting last Tuesday (June 23, 2009) at Pottstown Middle School. The DVRPC event, and a similar one held the next day in Royersford, were called to ask for comments on a corridor master plan being created as a guide to the fix.

The tentative target date for its implementation, Montgomery County Assistant Planning Director Leo D. Bagley said, is 2013, four years away.

Bagley, who was among the meeting’s speakers, guessed it will take two years to determine which master plan components seem to be best for unclogging the highway, and win public approval for them. Another two years, he said, will be spent putting them in place.

That time line works in DVRPC’s favor, advocates say. It gives the organization the ability to further develop its primary website, 422Corridor.com, and other outreach efforts to convince voters of the merits of its recommendations.

But there’s a downside too. Until then, the corridor’s growth is anticipated to be “steady and strong” despite the current economy, DVRPC representative Jerry Coyne, another presenter, warned. “There are going to be plenty of needs,” Coyne said, but also, he added, “plenty of opportunities to do something about them.”

Coyne’s message was clear: in the intervening years, the slow-moving parking lot that increasingly characterizes 422 is likely to get even slower.

So far, public sentiment favors improving the highway and its interchanges, and extending commuter train service west from Norristown. Their combined cost: over a billion dollars. Again, Bagley said, time will play a role. It will take years to asemble financing for such projects, primarily in the form of bonds that would be repaid from money collected by turning 422 into a toll road.

The Mercury's offices in downtown Pottstown.

The controversial subject of 422’s tolling received an important boost Monday (June 29, 2009) when The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper gave it a tentative endorsement in an editorial published on its Opinions Page. It said, in part:

“As with so many other quality-of-life issues in our region, the old ways of dealing with them are not working anymore. There are simply more demands on infrastructure — Route 422 being the prime example — than tax dollars can handle. The distaste toward paying for something which was once free is understandable. But the necessity of addressing the issues of 422 remain.

“While the planning continues, the public and those who travel 422 might want to ponder one simple question: What is it worth to me to change Route 422 from a traffic nightmare to smooth travel?

“A toll doesn’t seem so bad after all.”

The opinion attracted a score of derisive online comments, and some support too. But as the newspaper of record for several municipalities lining the corridor, and geographically central to it, some believe The Mercury’s willingness to stick its neck out marks a valuable early victory for DVRPC. Will other publications follow?

Only time will tell.

Related:

• Growth, Planners Say, Is 422’s Growing Problem
• Tech Used To Draw For 422 Meetings
• Route 422 Toll Meetings Next Week
• 422 Repairs, Delays Start Tuesday
• 422 Proposal, Like Traffic, Creeps Ahead
• Got A Route 422 Idea? Time To Air It
• Train Service On The Front Burner Once More

 

422’s Problem: Growth, Growth, Growth

A visitor to Tuesday's meeting on Route 422 inspects regional maps.

POTTSTOWN PA – About 50,000 vehicles travel past Limerick (PA) Township on U.S. Route 422 each day, a traffic load 28 percent higher than it was a decade ago, according to regional statistics. If that increase doesn’t worry you, transportation consultant Joe Bucovetsky thinks, maybe you’re among the few lucky enough to walk to work.

Jerry Coyne of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission talked about progress made so far on the Route 422 Corridor Master Plan.

But even for those whose commute consists of just a trek around the block, Bucovetsky said, the jump in traffic mirrors “a heck of a lot of development in just 10 years” which affects local lifestyles, often for the worse. If ignored, he cautioned Tuesday night (June 23, 2009), the long lines of cars snaking their way along 422 during rush hours can only get longer.

Buckovetsky, one of several associates with the engineering firm of McComick Taylor, and several other representatives of local and county government agencies, contended during a meeting in Pottstown Middle School that while doing nothing about congestion on 422 is an option, it probably isn’t the best one.

What’s better? Getting the public’s answer to that question was the whole purpose of the meeting. Comments and complaints heard this week, in addition to those aired at meetings in February, all are helping to shape final recommendations for what is being labeled by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission as the Route 422 Corridor Master Plan, which could be released late this year.

• A similar meeting is scheduled for Limerick area residents tonight (Wednesday, June 2, 2009) from 6:30-9 in Spring-Ford Area High School, 350 S. Lewis Rd., Royersford PA. The public is again invited to attend.

The crowd faced by engineer Joe Bucovetsky was small but vocal.

Montgomery County (PA) Assistant Planning Director Leo Bagley answered audience questions on rail service.

Planners already know that, of 10 different strategies they might use to solve traffic woes on 422, members of the public like two best: fixing the road and its interchanges to help manage the load, and extending passenger train service west from Norristown. The price tags for those two items: roughly $600 million and $500 million, respectively.

Attendance at the Pottstown gathering was relatively light, but vocal. Many applauded and cheered when one audience member railed against the notion of imposing tolls on the four-lane highway to pay for road improvements and mass transit.

They seemed to be more accepting, however, of proposed land use changes and other regulations that would concentrate growth in the 25-mile corridor, stretching from King of Prussia to Reading, in specific areas and reduce sprawl. “A backward-looking town or region won’t attract economic development,” said Pottstown resident Bonnie Heath. “We’ve got to keep working on this process.”

 

Public Comments Sought On 422 Future

A scene that's all too familiar: a line of traffic on Route 422 East snakes its way toward Trooper during a morning commute.

POTTSTOWN PA – For some drivers, the weekday morning crawl through the commute that can be U.S. Route 422 east from Limerick to King of Prussia is never a problem. They read the newspaper, folded into quarters for easy handling, atop their steering wheel. They drink coffee. They chat on the phone or text to friends. Those who are grooming-challenged even shave with an electric razor or fix their make-up.

The rest of us just sit and steam, but maybe that can change beginning Wednesday (Feb. 18, 2009).

The 25-mile corridor.

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), which thinks about how we’ll be living 20 years from now, is asking for a drivers’ point of view on the future of Route 422. It will hold the second of two local input meetings Wednesday from 6:30-9 p.m. in the community room of the West campus of Montgomery County Community College, 101 College Dr. The public’s invited to see what DVRPC thinks could happen, and to offer its own solutions.

• The commission will hold a similar meeting tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009) at the same times in the Oaks Elementary School cafeteria, 325 Oaks School Dr., Oaks PA.

The commission characterizes 422 as “possibly the single most important and fastest growing suburban expressway in the Philadelphia region, and an integral part of the inter-regional highway network.” It’s created a master plan for the future needs of the 25-mile-long corridor that includes roadway (lane) capacity, interchange design, connecting roadway improvements, transit alternatives and connections, and future land use plans.

Some of the plan’s ideas are familiar to Limerick residents. They’ve heard for several years about the need to re-design the highway’s Sanatoga interchange, at the township’s western border with Lower Pottsgrove. They’ve been encouraged by, and then disappointed by, see-saw speculation of whether commuter train service west from Norristown PA will ever return as a transit alternative.

Land use planning also is part of the DVRPC mandate. This parcel is on the north side of Route 422 at Limerick.

For people who aren’t familiar with those and other proposals, however, the DVRPC meeting will provide an introduction. Think of it as a sort of transportation fair. Booths in MCCC’s community room – the commission refers to them as “stations” – will display maps and renderings of land use and transportation conditions along the 422 corridor. Commission staff members will be available to answer questions.

DVRPC is the official metropolitan planning organization for the Greater Philadelphia region, consisting of nine counties: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania; and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer in New Jersey.

The input meetings are co-sponsored by an organization known as the U.S. 422 Corridor Coalition, which consists of the DVRPC and other planning organizations, a handful of municipalities (Limerick township is a member), elected state legislators (including Limerick Rep. Tom Quigley), and corporate members (including Exelon Nuclear, the Philadelphia Premium Oulets, the college, Traffic Planning and Design, and the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce).