Bruce Castor and Jenny Brown
NORRISTOWN PA – Republican candidates for Montgomery County (PA) commissioners in the November general election, Jenny Brown and Bruce Castor, called Wednesday (Sept. 21, 2011) for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) to publicly release information collected regarding its proposal to impose tolls on U.S. Route 422 from King of Prussia to the Berks County line.
Citing a story written by The Pennsylvania Independent online news service and published Monday (Sept. 19) by The Post and other media outlets, Brown and Castor in a statement criticized DVRPC for what they claimed was a “lack of transparency” in denying right-to-know requests about rail service ridership being considered as part of improvements in the 422 corridor.
At least one group thinks the ridership numbers are inflated, the pair claimed, and “people need to know how the numbers add up,” Castor said. The state Office of Open Records has decided the information should be released; DVRPC is fighting that ruling in Commonwealth Court.
Castor and Brown oppose the prospect of tolling 422, and this week began running electronic billboard advertisements to that effect seen by drivers near the highway’s Oaks interchange.
Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):
- Candidates Criticize DVRPC Toll Info Position
- On 422 Toll Plan, DVRPC Fights Information Requests
- Notebook Worthy (U.S. Route 422 Forum Edition)
- Drivers will subsidize new rail line in 422 tolling plan (The Pennsylvania Independent)
- Agendas Abound Tonight At 422 Forum In Royersford
- Quigley Seeks Crowd As Source Of Comments On 422
- State Road Tolls A Future Funding Solution, Official Agrees
- Report Expected To Suggest Law For Road Toll Authority
- I-95 A Big Problem; 422 A Solvable Problem (With Tolls)
- Even With Tolling, 422 Might Be Free (For A Few Miles)
- County Candidates Brown, Castor Oppose 422 Tolling
- Quigley, Other Reps Questioning 422 Tolls Proposal
- 422 Toll Proposal Wins Some PA Commission Backers
- Exec Highway Group To Hear Rt. 422 Tolling As ‘Model’
- 422 Questions Answered, For Your Viewing Pleasure
- In 422 Tolling, Planners Say, Studying Doesn’t Make It So
- 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
Photo from the Brown-Castor camaign
the fact that they took it to court just SCREAMS that they’re trying to hide things. Want to see why tolling things is bad ? Just look at the antics that the Del river port authority pull off.
The DVRPC is running interference for a statewide tolling effort that needs to dislodge the 422 keystone so that the whole thing falls down and tolling becomes “de riguer” statewide on many roadways.
Once tolling commences PennDOT will relieve themselves from troublesome and expensive roadway ownership and slide that responsibility off to the local tolling authority and their purse.
This whole thing stinks to high heaven, reflects an effort to push roadway maintenance down to the locals. This simply is intolerable, as we all now that statewide roadway and bridge maintenance can only be accomplished by a statewide coordinated effort. Selectively tolling individual roads and bridges allows the state to blur the funding line and make it more and more difficult to clearly discern where revenues are spent and how equitable the distribution and expenditures are.
DVRPC has no role in advocating tolling. Their continuation of this advocacy is outside of their charter and must be driven by politics. Who pays for them? Remove their funding source?
Joe Hoeffel is on the wrong side of this. No wonder he was not the nominee for Governer. He’s addressing this issue at the wrong level. It’s a statewide issue and boils down to A shortfall and lack of foresight by PENNDOT to paln for proper statewide maintenance and upkeep Fraud waste and abue abound there… Tackle that…
Citizen input not welcome. We’ll tell you what we’re building, you pay for it.