SANATOGA PA – Authors of a study that may suggest tolling drivers on U.S. Route 422, and using that money to improve the highway and reduce its congestion, “are not making their case well enough in the court of public opinion,” says a former journalist who now serves on the Spring City PA borough council. He thinks local municipalities should do more to promote the plan.
Westbound traffic, at left, travels U.S. Route 422 between its Royersford and Phoenixville interchanges in this May 2009 Post file photo.
In a letter reviewed Monday (Oct. 4, 2010), former newspaper reporter Michael Hays asked the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners to consider “being a proponent and active advocate of the benefits of this ‘user tax/fee’ or toll.” Commissioners accepted Hays’ letter under advisement and said they could give it further consideration, but did not comment or act on it.
One reason: only three of five board members – James Phillips, who acted as temporary chairman, Michael McGroarty and James Kaiser – were present at Monday’s meeting, the first of two scheduled for October. Both President Jonathan Spadt and Vice President Bruce Foltz were absent, and “the board probably should hear from everyone on this before commenting,” township Manager Rodney Hawthorne noted.
Commissioners have not yet taken a public stand on acceptance of land use principles and strategies contained in a Route 422 master plan being circulated by the Montgomery County Planning Commission, or on the value of the proposal to institute tolls, which officially is still being investigated.
Hays, who once reported for The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper and then worked with the hyper-local online news resource called “What’s The 422?,” left journalism last year when he was elected to the Spring City council. His Sept. 22 letter to Lower Pottsgrove‘s elected officials, he wrote, was offered “in an individual capacity” and not as a member of any other group or of the council.
“I ask you to consider joining with other officials along the (25-mile-long Route 422) corridor in a unique advocacy role,” Hays wrote to the commissioners. Besides promoting tolling, he asked the board to “keep an open mind about this concept” and be willing to sign an online petition to express “support for tolls under specific conditions” which were not described but on which Hays promised details later.
“Tolls are without question politically tenuous at this time,” Hays acknowledged. “Many residents (and) taxpayers are angry about government spending.” Solving “this infrastructure problem will not be easy,” he wrote, “but if left undone, our future is certain: more gridlock and pollution.”
Hays’ letter was made public on the same day that Philadelphia radio station KYW-AM aired reports that quoted county Assistant Planning Director Leo Bagley as saying the study looking at financing for 422 improvements could be completed by year’s end. If tolling was proposed and accepted, Bagley told the station, electronically collected fees might be implemented within three to five years.
Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):
- Former Reporter Asks Commissioners To Support 422 Tolls
- Online Survey Seeks Opinions On Local Road Congestion
- 422 Plus Project Plays Offense With FAQs Debut
- Peering Into The Future? Gov’s Bridge Proposal And 422
- Another Township Endorses 422 Master Plan
- Neighboring Limerick Supervisors Endorse 422 Master Plan
- Understand 422 Plan Endorsement, Lower Pottsgrove Advised
- Lower Pottsgrove Holds On 422 Plan Endorsement
- Engineers Claim PA Roads Worse Now Than In 2006
- Tuesday Session Tackles Funding For 422 And Elsewhere
- Tolls, Lower Pottsgrove Station Part Of 422 Plan
- Pending Decision May Affect Route 422 Projects
- Last Day For Your Say On Route 422 Plan
- Notebook Worthy (Aug. 24, 2009)
- Consultants Express Interest In Studying 422
- Don’t Like 422 Tolling? Website Wants Your Alternative
- Truckers Alerted On Highway Partnerships Bill
- In 422 Debate, Time A Hindrance And Help
- Notebook Worthy (June 29, 2009)
- 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
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Oct. 4):
- Former Reporter Asks Commissioners To Support 422 Tolls
- Welcoming The Newest Of Lower Pottsgrove’s Finest
- Lower Pottsgrove Gives Gift Its Diesel Fuel Business
- Lower Pottsgrove Commissioners May Reward Bidders
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Not only no but H*** No!
These folks coming out of the woodwork to support this tolling idea should first look to other roadways. Route 309, Route 202, Route 1, the Blue Route, The Schuylkill Expressway all come to mind as more likely candidates for tolling.
One might ask why these roadways and their residents aren’t asked to pay tolls … We’re the poorer areas out here and we haven’t the political clout these other areas have to fight.
People, our taxes, tolls and fees already pay for the maintenance of these roadways. PennDOTs wasteful habits and overpaying for contractors in the metro Philadelphia areas compared to other parts of the state are to blame for the lack of funds. Perhaps less video and electronic billboards might make more money available. Perhaps requiring their employees to pay for their own commutes instead of allowing PennDOT vehicles to be used as private commuter vehicles might free up more funds.
Tolling makes no sense and using the road tolls to pay for a light rail line that no one will use also makes no sense.
Wake up people or you’ll be paying $.75 for every three exits you travel…
It is not a fair comparison to bring up route 309. Totally different road. Not one place along 309 could you easily expand to 6 lanes. All along 422 this will be done. The revenue from the tolls will help this.
Tolls and slip ramps are good here.
Also, look at the environmental harm that occurs when cars sit idling for hours in traffic on 422. That will be less once we are able to move along in a normal manner.
Tolls are Good!
Route 309 is an example of a roadway that has been under construction for over a decade. If you look near the Fort Washington exit you will indeed see 6 lanes.
I drive over there weekly and the construction efforts move at a snails pace. Perhaps they need to toll the road to get it rebuilt more quickly.
You can pay my tolls. I’ve already payed for 422, why ask us to pay twice?