The Long and Winding Road

It’s rare that the closure of a road in our community is cause for celebration, but for the LP Board of Supervisors last evening, deciding what to do about a public road promised long ago yet still unbuilt was an opportunity to make a significant positive traffic impact for LP.



former proposed throughpoint from Egypt to Park Ave

At issue was whether to allow local developer Audubon Land Development (ALD)  and its principal, John Neilson, out of an obligation incurred 16 years ago to complete Shannondell Boulevard through to Park Avenue, part of the plan when ALD pursued approval for the development of the Shannondell retirement community, in exchange for road improvements elsewhere in the Township, or whether to hold them to the letter of the 1998 conditional use decision.

ALD’s commitment to open a public road (an extension of the existing Shannondell Boulevard) stretching from Egypt Road to Park Avenue was secured by a former Board of Supervisors and sought at a time in our history when we had significant congestion issues in Audubon, particularly along Egypt Road. At the time, the intersection at Egypt/Park Avenue/Pawlings Road was rated by PennDOT as an “F” – their worst rating. This was partly because the point where US Route 422 meets Trooper Road had never been designed as a full cloverleaf, so traffic seeking to head westbound from our area was forced to thread through Audubon on Egypt Road to reach 422 there. The Shannondell road extension was required and approved as a means to help alleviate this traffic.



paper street back to the Meadows @ Shannondell from Park

Also back in 1998 new businesses and homes were still being built at a steady clip, dumping more and more traffic on local roads less and less able to keep up. In addition, we are a gateway community through which pass-through traffic generated by other communities along the 422 corridor, also experiencing growth in population and business, fed into LP. The 1998 agreement was structured so that when Shannondell reached 1000 new units (and presumably added a definably increased level of traffic onto Egypt) it would trigger the completion and dedication of the road to divert cars to Park Avenue.

Since Shannondell never reached that threshold (although they are close), they were never required to complete and open the public road. And, in the intervening years, conditions changed sufficiently so that the cut-through from Egypt to Park Avenue was arguably no longer needed. In 2006 improvements to the Egypt Road/Park Avenue/Pawlings Road intersection approved in 2005 (by the BOS I was a member of) were installed, improving that intersection from an “F” rating to a “D”. Today, long-planned work is underway to complete the 422/Trooper Road cloverleaf, which will make it easier for employees of the corporate center to access 422 without traversing Egypt Road, and the Arcola Road bridge – while having a temporary impact on the Audubon area – will be rebuilt and reopened within the next couple of years.


Thus, having made their case that circumstances have substantially changed (and arguably improved and will continue to do so) since the 1998 conditional use decision they received, ALD secured the Board of Supervisors’ approval last night to amend it (with conditions) to exchange that project for improvements at the dangerous intersection of Crawford Road, Eagleville Road and Park Avenue (see articles, here (TAP) and here and here (Times Herald).

The unaligned Crawford Road intersection is currently rated ‘E”, although arguably it’s worse, according to the Township’s traffic engineer, Casey Moore of McMahon Associates. Improving and aligning Crawford Road is a safety priority and in the public’s best interests. Traffic stacks there significantly in all directions and is especially dangerous at rush hours. It has an extensive accident history, and I personally know of friends and family whose cars have been clobbered there over the years.

The stub road at Shannondell will still be finished up to Park Avenue, but will not have public access. Only emergency vehicles and public works will be able to access it.



S. Park heading north, 7-14-14 @ 5:25 pm

I believe it’s very forward thinking on the part of our BOS to think in terms of getting something we really want and need in exchange for a project that is no longer necessary, and I applaud their creativity, flexibility and courage in taking on what could have been a politically hot issue.



paper street from Park to Egypt

When I ran for BOS in 2011, because I was the only candidate to go on record as opposing opening the road to the public,  I received overwhelming support from the residents of Shannondell who were vehemently opposed to what they termed ‘an expressway’ being opened in their community, citing safety concerns. Some Audubon residents, and former supervisor Rick Brown, were, at the time, more interested in holding a developer accountable for an agreement they entered into years ago than in what was in the overall best interest of the Township as a whole. I’m glad that this has turned out to be a win/win for all stakeholders and is no longer a political football.

Now, if we could only get the intersection of Pinetown/Sunnyside/Eagleville Road improved….

  

photo credit: Times Herald

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'.