422 tolling/rail plan gets a failing grade

I spent last evening with residents from all along the 422 corridor who came out en masse to the tune of several hundred attendees to participate in a panel discussion at Pope John Paul II High School,  hosted by Rep. Mike Vereb (150th), on the subject of "fixing 422", how to pay for it, and whether a rail option should be part of the plan.  Our township manager, Joe Dunbar, and supervisor Colleen Eckman attended from Lower Providence.

Barry Seymour (DRVRPC), Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, Times Herald editor Stan Huskey, and Rep. Warren Kamp (R-157) (photo courtesy Pottstown Patch)

Panelists included Rep. Marcy Toepel (147th), Rep. Warren Kampf (157th), Rep. Tom Quigley (146th), Stan Huskey, editor of the Times Herald, Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, and Barry Seymour, executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

The forum allowed for residents to have an interactive voice, posing questions to the panel via card, and permitting panelists to elaborate on key provisions of the proposed plan. As several attendees told me afterward, they didn't like the plan as presented - which includes the possibility of tolling and takes into account a new regional rail line - and wondered aloud 'If this is Plan A, what's Plan B?"

Attendees first reviewed a Powerpoint summary of the current scenario.  The document indicated projected population is anticipated to increase 50 percent in the corridor region over the next ten years, bringing with it increased gridlock and delays. Financial data included the revelation that funds generated by tolls - about $60 million a year, increasing over time, of course,  would only cover about 25% of the money needed to operate and maintain 422 and the proposed rail line. Rep. Toepel later stated that 'the numbers don't make sense'. 

Pointing out that federal transportation funding will decrease 35% over the next six years and that PennDOT has $1 billion less to spend than it did four years ago, Seymour hoped that Gov. Corbett would seriously consider implementing the Governor’s Transportation Commission’s suggestions to increase transportation funding by $3.5 billion. If that happens, tolling may not be needed on 422 at all.

Residents questioned every aspect of the proposal, including, but not limited to, why 422 was singled out for tolling when improvements to 309 and 202 were not; what's happened to money already allocated for road improvements; how to keep the toll from being a permanent solution; what the potential costs of implementing tolling would be and what would the impact be on local jobs and roads; exploring other, more fair, avenues of revenue generation such as increased licensing and registration fees and increasing the gas tax - options which spread the cost to all state residents; and of course the train/rail line aspect. The sentiment of the vast majority in attendance was that legislators needed to find ways to do more with less and perhaps find ways to cut spending in other areas to pay for needed transportation improvements - and remove the rail aspect from the plan entirely.

The cost of the proposed rail plan is estimated at $370 million. Hoeffel said that figure could be eliminated from total cost of the project. Estimates indicated that it would cost about $750 million to improve Route 422 and replace the Betzwood Bridge, and pulling the $370 million rail line cost out still leaves the  project short by about $500 million. 

Many fear the creation of yet another 'authority' to supervise and (mis?)manage funds generated by tolling and view tolling as yet another way to divert transportation funds to chronically nonself-sustainable SEPTA.  As Joe Hoeffel observed, however, all forms of transportation are subsidized in some fashion by taxpayers - airlines, buses, and highways, so why not rail? (Hoeffel's repeated use of the word 'investment' in terms of this project did not endear him to any of the folks I talked to).  One resident cautioned planners "not to assume the revenue will be there", as  many commuters would likely choose to avoid 422 in favor of using free local roads even if they have to sit in traffic to do so.

The toll would be collected not via traditional toll booths, but with E-Z pass technology. Seymour said that those without E-Z Pass would be billed through the mail based on photos of their license plates. Some attendees questioned the costs of doing that.

One question submitted asked why this issue could not be put out for vote by referendum. Rep. Vereb observed that this had not been done since the open space referendum a few years ago and that there are considerable costs to put out a referendum; it was felt that a meeting such as this forum would elicit stakeholder feedback more quickly without incurring the costs.

While the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the plan (surprised? I'm not) the question was put out as to whether the local Montgomery county Chamber of Commerce had taken a position on the plan. New Chamber president Kathy Brandon was in the audience and contributed that while the Chamber had not taken a position, they had polled their  members and found no support for it, adding that there 'are too many unanswered questions' at this point.

Privatization was also raised as possibility and the panel indicated that this option may be a part of the ongoing discussion.

The panelists reiterated that "only the State can create a local tolling option", that nothing will happen without legislation being introduced, passed, and signed by the governor; currently there is no legislation proposed. 

Frequent applause and cheering at key points, along with a few loud audience members who shouted out comments, made it clear that the vast majority of the attendees were not in support of either a tolling option or a rail line.

You can see other articles from Reading, Pottstown, and Norristown publications containing more details and photos here,  here, here and here.

The Road Toll Is For Thee

I was just checking the online version of The Times Herald, and noticed in their headlines of May 31 "Tolling of Route 422 On Agenda of Transportation Funding Commission"  that the subject of tolling on Route 422 has reared its ugly head again. I was considering writing about it when I noticed Lisa Mossie did so last week based on the Times Herald's sister publication's (Pottstown Mercury) article on the same topic. She wrote eloquently and comprehensively on the subject, which you can read here). How odd that this latest press release about 422 was offered for publication and buried in the newspaper over the Memorial Day weekend when presumably most people who'd find it of interest might be away on vacation.

As I posted last fall, I dislike this idea for several reasons, chief among them because Lower Providence already suffers substantial traffic congestion, which will only be exacerbated by cars seeking to avoid paying a toll on 422, instead routing themselves through roads inside our and other municipalities to avoid it. For us, it's definitely NOT a 'smart traffic solution'. We're already a gateway community through which motorists travel to get to other places (like Norristown, King of Prussia, Collegeville, or Philadelphia) and while I hope they  spend money here while they're coming through, none of those funds raised via tolling will be coming to Lower Providence to help us deal with infrastructure improvements inside our boundaries to support avoidance traffic.

Aside from the fact that our taxpayers already are paying money through federal and state fuel taxes and licensing fees which PennDOT themselves indicate will go toward funding road improvements on other area roads such as US 202 - and which could and should be applied to improvements on 422 - it's interesting to me that the presentation of what is referred to as the "US 422 Corridor Master Plan' (ie the tolling plan) given to our supervisors in June 2010 (for more detail on the information presented at that meeting, see the meeting minutes, Item 7, here) doesn't seem to match what its supporters are claiming now in both the Times Herald/Pottstown Mercury pubications. A year ago the presentation and discussion centered largely around funding for a commuter rail system. Now, according to the article cited above, they claim it's necessary 'above and beyond' normal state funding sources to pay for 'transportation spending' and appear to be downplaying the rail option, almost as if it's an afterthought.

Unfortunately, our sitting supervisors unanimously voted to support the US 422 Corridor Master Plan at their July 1, 2010 meeting (documented in the minutes of that meeting, Item 11, here). 24 other 422 corridor communities in Montgomery, Chester and Berks counties were also pitched the same presentation that we received, as part of what the County referred to as a 'land use transportation study'.  Of those 24 communities, I could not determine how many of them have supported the plan by resolution. Of course, the FAQs on the website http://www.422plus.com/422Corridor/ claims that:

Q. The US 422 Corridor Master Plan resolution supports the idea of studying 422. If my municipality signs the resolution, are they automatically supporting tolling on US 422?

A. No. By signing this resolution, municipalities are not endorsing tolling.

While tolling is one of the options described, there are many other strategies identified in the Master Plan.

If your hometown leaders endorse the resolution, it means only that your local officials are willing to work with their community, the state, the participating counties, and other alliances to explore the 10 planning strategies outlined in the Master Plan.

Well, if you look at those 10 planning strategies as summarized in this handy-dandy brochure put together for each municipality, here, (which oh-so-thoughfully even provides a draft resolution to speed its adoption by each stakeholder muncipality), it strikes me as odd that the only 2 of the 10 I've heard discussed in any meaningful detail in  conjunction with this master plan are the supposed road improvements and the rail line. The fluff of the 10 points all sounds good, but as Ms. Mossie points out, it does seem like the underlying motive for the entire effort to toll is the "government run, public union-staffed, tax dollar subsidized public transportation system that will have absolutely no positive impact on the traffic that 422 commuters sit in every. Single. Day."

The resolution that our Board of Supervisors passed on July 1, 2010 did not carve out any of the ten options as ones they could not support. It endorsed all the 'principles and strategies' in the plan including the two which were primarily discussed, one of which was tolling 422, for however the money would ultimately be used.  In contrast, sister communities Upper Providence and Limerick Townships voted to support the plan but specifically excluded the 422 tolling provisions. As of at least September 2010, two other communities had opposed the master plan in its entirety.


Before tolling on 422 can become a reality, it needs the support of the state legislature, our governor, PennDOT and the federal Dept. of Transportation.  Our new governor has pledged that he will not raise taxes, and the argument can be made that a toll is a tax. Now is the time to contact your elected state and federal representatives and let them know where you stand on this topic, before tolling on 422 becomes a 'runaway train'.