EAST COVENTRY PA – The East Coventry (PA) Township Board of Supervisors declined Monday (Sept. 13, 2010) to endorse the U.S. Route 422 Master Plan in a 3-2 vote, Supervisor Michael Moyer reported by e-mail. An earlier vote on the plan, from which board Chairman Tim Roland was absent, resulted in a 2-2 tie.
Moyer said he, along with Supervisors W. Atlee Rinehart and Mariea Geho, voted to reject the plan, which sets out a series of strategies to reduce traffic congestion, expand transportation choices, and make better use of available land in the highway corridor that stretches 25 miles from King of Prussia west to Reading PA. It includes East Coventry. Supervisors Roland and Vice Chairman Ray Kolb favored the proposal.
Before the second vote, Moyer noted, the board received a letter from a representative of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission – which sponsored the master plan – asking supervisors to be “open-minded” about the plan while a study of potential funding solutions to support it is conducted.
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In making the motion to reject the plan, I said the DVRPC is a government agency, funded by tax dollars and federal grants (more tax dollars) telling us there are no more tax dollars to make needed infrastructure improvements and so they’re proposing to raise new tax dollars through tolling!
I added that you can’t have Montgomery County Sr. Planner, Leo Bagley, running around telling anyone who will listen that tolling is the only way to raise needed revenue for infrastructure improvements and then say it’s not about tolling!
East Coventry cannot patrol or manage one stretch of road known as 724.
What business do they have even discussing 422.
That’s the big league folks.
You have near accidents every day up and down 724 and your officers are no where in site.
Depending on developments with 422, Conrad, it’s also likely 724 will only get busier.
Mr. Bagley’s plan to toll 422 to build the Norristown-Reading rail line is unsustainable at best. There is little market for rail travel between Reading and Philadelphia, or points in between.
There are many more cost effective ways of dealing with 422′s traffic, and transit improvements. The R6 extension is not one of them. It will be highly costly to operate, and generate few riders.
As Vice President of the Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition, we call on DVRPC to drop the expensive 422/R6 extension plan, and consider the Greenline, between Phoenixville and Paoli, which will offer the same 2 seat ride to Philadelphia as proposed by the R6 extension, at half the cost for construction, and 1/4 the cost of operating.
Out of the 68,000 cars on 422 every day, fewer than 5,000 actually wind up in center city. Out of those 5,000, if only 5% of them use the proposed R6 train to Reading (which is the norm), that only yields 250 riders on the train. That is not sustainable.
If Mr. Bagley wants to build a rail line, PA-TEC does endorse the reinstatement of rail service along the Fox Chase-Newtown line in Abington, Bryn Athyn and Lower/Upper Moreland Montomgery County.
Regarding your Rte. 724 comment, Conrad, our police department does patrol this area. In fact, Friday, September 10th, from 9PM-1AM we had a Chester County sponsored DUI checkpoint on Rte. 724. I know because, as one of East Coventry’s supervisors, I was there for the entire event. So was Ray Kolb, another supervisor.
Our officers and chief patrol Rte. 724 everyday. I agree that there are too many accidents on Rte. 724, but it’s not because we don’t patrol it. Most of those accidents occur because of driver impairment and driver error, plain and simple.
I appreciate, and I share your concern Conrad, and I think the most helpful thing you and others can do is to contact your state representative and state senator and let them know that House Bill 67 should be passed in its original form!
I agree with The Mercury editorial (9/18/2010) that “There is no good argument against limiting passengers to one non-family member. Convenience of carpooling cannot trump safety. There is no good rationale for failing to ban cell phone use among drivers. Saving lives is more important than challenging police in enforcement.”
Texting/cell phone use while driving is no less dangerous than driving under the influence. And there’s no reason any teen should be driving around with four or five other teens, it usually ends deadly.