SANATOGA PA – Recent jottings from a reporter’s notebook:

In the Interesting Idea Department …

Pay toll here.

Pottstown attorney Paul A. Prince, like many drivers who suffer through the traffic jams on U.S. Route 422, says he’d like to see improvements made to that highway. But rather than impose tolls on all 422 traffic to raise money for its reconstruction, as is currently being advocated by some municipal planners, Prince last week (Aug. 13, 2009) proposed an alternative.

“I offer a suggestion:,” he wrote in a comment on the 422Corridor.com website, “a monthly fee-restricted speed lane, or a computer-operated high-speed lane, at (an) extra per-trip charge, both of which are technologically and physically possible.”

The extra-fee lane, Prince contends, would allow area residents to “achieve a superior product for ourselves” – an improved highway – while still relying on federal and state governments to provide “a modicum of service” for all drivers and roads from taxes and other existing revenues.

In The Interesting Event Department …

The Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association (GVFTMA) will observe the First Day of Autumn (Sept. 22, 2009) with an event it hopes you’ll fall for: Car-Free Day.

GVFTMA is an organization that attempts to create and promote private-public partnerships to solve transportation issues in the area. Founded in 1990, it’s one of the groups heavily involved in planning for the future of U.S. Route 422.

Car-Free Day, GVFTMA says, is a day on which it wants drivers to leave their cars at home, “and walk, take transit or cycle around town.”

Worthy Competitors, Getting Bigger

Pottstown’s Public Library may have bested the Telford PA-based Indian Valley Public Library in a Page Olympics competition a couple of weeks ago, but Indian Valley can now claim one-upsmanship on another front: it’s planning to expand its building.

The (Lansdale PA) Reporter newspaper wrote Saturday (Aug. 22, 2009) that the library hopes to add space for tutoring and individual study, and enlarge its community room. The cost wasn’t mentioned, but Library Director Linda Beck said the library already has construction money in the bank thanks to past fund-raisers. It hopes to get the addition started soon after the permitting process is complete.

Photo by Clipart.com

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