The cover jacket for the Simon and Garfunkel hit, re-issued in 1970.
SANATOGA PA – “Slow down, you move too fast,” popular singer Paul Simon wrote during 1966, in an upbeat pop tune called “Feelin’ Groovy” that he performed with Art Garfunkel. And although its message was directed to traffic that crossed the 59th Street Bridge in New York City, the lyric may as well apply to East High Street in Sanatoga village, between North Pleasant View and Sunnybrook roads.
Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township officials aren’t simply asking motorists to slow down along that stretch. They want permission to force the issue.
The speed limit on the main, east-west thoroughfare that cuts through the heart of the village district, and on which many of its prominent businesses are located, currently is 40 miles an hour. The township in October (2010), at the suggestion of Commissioner Michael McGroarty, unanimously voted to ask the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to lower the limit to 35 mph.
McGroarty’s chief concern was an anticipated rise in traffic once a restaurant opens there, possibly later next year. Research done by the township and its police officers indicated a speed reduction may be helpful. That relatively small 5-mile-an-hour change could make a big difference in driver response and stopping time, and increase traffic safety, Manager Rodney Hawthorne said at the time.
In an update offered Monday (Dec. 6, 2010) during the township Board of Commissioners‘ meeting, Hawthorne reported his application for the change had already been submitted to PennDOT, but added the agency’s reply could take months.
Simon’s ditty, by the way, is only 1 minute and 56 seconds in length. Drivers who begin singing along to it in their cars at North Pleasant View Road, and drive west toward Pottstown at 35 mph, probably would just be finishing up as they reached Sunnybrook Road. One more way, as the lyric line concludes, to “make the mornin’ last.”
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Dec. 6):
- Slowing Down In Sanatoga Proposed As A ‘Groovy’ Idea
- With Keim Bridge Out, Signal Coming In To Lower Pottsgrove
- Township OKs New Fire Police Law, Approves Members
- Township, Moyer Estate Settle Late Treasurer’s Accounts
- Commissioners Meet Tonight, With A Busy Agenda
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[...] Slowing Down In Sanatoga Proposed As A ‘Groovy’ Idea Lower Pottsgrove officials hope you’ll start to slow down while driving through the Sanatoga village district. They also hope PennDOT will approve a speed limit change on the route. [...]