The Sanatoga Post

KING OF PRUSSIA PA – Employees of Traffic Planning and Design Inc. in Sanatoga, the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce in Pottstown, and GlaxoSmithKline in Collegeville were among 164 area workers who hopped aboard their bicycles and pedaled themselves to and from their jobs regularly between May and September, the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association (GVFTMA) says.

The association recently wrapped up the 2011 edition of its annual Bike to Work Challenge. The 20-week-long program encourages employees to commute by bike, with the twin goals of keeping vehicles off roadways while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This year’s participants biked 42,651 miles, saved an estimated 1,975 gallons of fuel, and prevented 38,307 pounds of CO2 emissions from entering the air, it said earlier this month (Oct. 3, 2011).

• Read a story titled “GVF Bike To Work Challenge Ends Another Successful Season” and published Oct. 3 by GVFTMA, here.

Photo from Google Images

The Keim Street span across the Schuylkill River has been closed for more than 10 months

Click to enlarge this image at Google Maps

POTTSTOWN PA – What happens next with the now-closed Keim Street bridge across the Schuylkill River, which made it easier to commute from U.S. Route 422 and Route 724 in Kenilworth north to both Lower Pottsgrove and Pottstown via Industrial Highway, could be decided next Monday (Aug. 8, 2011) by the Montgomery County (PA) Commissioners.

During its meeting last month, members of the Pottstown Area Traffic Group reportedly were told the county Planning Commission would recommend county commissioners approve the approximately $150,000 cost of a study to determine alternatives for re-opening the bridge. It was barricaded last October after being deemed structurally deficient and potentially hazardous.

The study would be conducted by Traffic Planning and Design Inc. of Sanatoga, and would include an analysis of whether the existing bridge could be sufficiently repaired; whether it should be replaced in its current location, or relocated to realign it with other roads to improve traffic flow; or whether it should remain closed or be dismantled.

Announcements about the bridge, made Monday (Aug. 1) to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners by Scott Exley, president of Bursich Associates, the township’s engineering firm, left at least one board member scratching his head. “We’re planning to spend this money just to decide our next move?,” asked a somewhat incredulous Commissioner James Phillips.

“That’s right,” Exley answered.

Both the township and borough have made accommodations for motorists who must now take other routes to cross the river while avoiding the bridge. In January (2011), the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation erected a traffic signal for increased safety at the intersection of Moser Road and Industrial Highway, on the border line between the municipalities, to better control heavier traffic in the area. They share the cost of its operation.

The traffic group meets monthly, and consists of representatives from state Sen. John Rafferty’s office, Lower Pottsgrove, Pottstown, North Coventry, Chester and Montgomery counties, and the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association.

Related:

• Next Move On Keim Street Bridge Possible Next Week
• New Traffic Solution On Keim Bridge Detour Route
• Now Official: Keim Bridge Closed For ‘Foreseeable Future’
• With Keim Bridge Out, Signal Coming In To Lower Pottsgrove
• Supervisor Prefers New, Re-Aligned Bridge At South Keim
• Keim Street Bridge To Be Closed At Least Eight Weeks

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Aug. 1):

• Next Move On Keim Street Bridge Possible Next Week
• Several Report Interest In Township Planning Vacancy
• Army Band May Return, Thanks To Impressive Crowd
• Whack Away At Unsightly Weeds, Township Pleads
• July Tax Payments Trickle In At A Rate Of $528 Per Day
• Tax Settlements: An Awful Lot Of Paperwork To Net $677
• Lower Pottsgrove’s June 2011 Warrants Now Online
• Bridge, Guardrail Study Proposed For Pruss Hill Road
• Township 2009 Sex Offender Law ‘Might Not Stand Up’
• Commissioners OK KenCrest ‘Temporary’ Grenhouse
• Commissioners Gather For First August Meeting

Peter Simone.

NORRISTOWN PA – The landscape planning, design, and architecture firm that has done so much work with Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick (PA) townships and the borough of Pottstown in recent years, Simone Collins of Norristown PA, has become a partner member of the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association (GVFTMA), that organization recently announced.

GVFTMA is a non-profit group created to advocate and promote a viable transportation network to benefit the area’s economic vitality. It now has more than 100 partner members dedicated to decreasing congestion and increasing mobility across the region.

GVFTMA’s “role is critical,” Simone Collins principal Peter Simone said. “Virtually every project our firm undertakes relies on one mode or another of transportation – rail, motor vehicle, bicycle or pedestrian.” The organization “helps keep us up-to-date on the latest area transportation projects and innovations. This allows us to convey important information to our clients … an invaluable service,” he added.

Simone Collins provides consulting services to public and private sector clients in planning, zoning, site design, and landscape architecture. The firm is known for its work in public parks, trails and public involvement strategies. Lower Pottsgrove, Limerick and Pottstown all are among its clients.

Ashley Pompei, assistant marketing manager for the malls.

KING OF PRUSSIA PA – Separate shuttle buses for employees and customers at the King of Prussia PA Mall will make their final runs around the vast shopping complex this Sunday (Dec. 26, 2010), the day after Christmas. Until then, though, the shuttles are reducing aggravation endured by package-burdened buyers, and saving a little of the planet, too.

The Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association (GVFTMA), which operates offices in Pottstown, partnered with mall management to operate the complimentary shuttles. Now running in their third consecutive year, they circulate the connected centers on a regular schedule to continuously help shoppers get from store to store without returning to their cars. They also move workers from employee parking lots to their destinations.

It’s convenient for all, and helps to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions, according to GVFTMA.

• Watch a video, above, describing the shuttle program, or see it at the YouTube account of user GVFTransportation.

Traffic moves along U.S. Route 422 at Royersford.

KING OF PRUSSIA PA – “Moving People, Not Cars” is a focus, and one of the prime topics of discussion, planned by the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association for its annual transportation conference that starts this morning (Monday, Nov. 8, 2010) at 8 a.m. in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in King of Prussia PA.

• Watch GVFTMA Executive Director Rob Henry discuss the conference in a video, above, or see it at the association’s YouTube account.

The association, which won national awards this year for its various transportation initiatives, is part of the current effort to examine – and suggest ways to relieve – traffic congestion on U.S. Route 422.

The conference includes presentations by Reps. Kate Harper and Tim Briggs on state transportation legislation, as well as from Chris Simmons of the Association for Commuter Transportation National Public Policy Council on federal legislation; its “Moving People” panel discussion featuring Hans van Naerssen of the League of American Bicyclists, Justin Schor of UrbanTrans, and Brian Tynan of the American Public Transportation Association; and an address on smart mobility by Lilly Shoup of Transportation for America.

It also features a second discussion on private sector investment in transportation projects by Frank Rapoport of the McKenna Long and Aldridge law firm, Alexander Greenbaum of UBS, and Barry Schoch of the Pennsylvania Highway Information Association. Combined public and private investment partnerships are being proposed in several Pennsylvania locations to solve existing transportation problems that might not otherwise find adequate funding.

Founded in 1990, GVF is a not-for-profit organization created to advocate and promote a regional transportation network.

The Keim Street bridge shows its deterioration.

POTTSTOWN PA -If he had his “druthers,” North Coventry (PA) Township’s Andy Paravis, chairman of its Board of Supervisors, would rather re-align South Keim Street across the Schuylkill River – and invest a few million dollars in a new bridge to do it – than spend money to repair the existing bridge between the borough of Pottstown and the township.

That’s the primary message in the latest installment of interviews videotaped by the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association (GVFTMA).

Paravis talks about the bridge following its abrupt closure two weeks ago, when the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation deemed it unsafe. The interview was posted by GVFTMA on Thursday (Nov. 4, 2010).

• Watch the video, above, or see it at the association’s YouTube account.

KING OF PRUSSIA PA – You call it mowing grass, cutting weeds and trimming branches. Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation calls it “vegetation maintenance.”

No matter how they’re described, the 422Improvements.com website on Monday (Sept. 21, 2009) said these and related PennDOT tasks likely will cause drivers to encounter intermittent lane restrictions on U.S. Route 422 – from U.S. Route 202 in King of Prussia PA west to PA Route 100 in Pottstown PA – between Wednesday and Friday (Sept. 23-25, 2009) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Also, drivers can anticipate these potential Route 422 interruptions:

• Nightly through Thursday (Sept. 24, 2009) from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., road re-paving on the eastbound and westbound lanes between U.S. Route 202 in King of Prussia and PA Route 23 in Valley Forge;
• Daily through Friday (Sept. 25, 2009), road reconstruction from 10 a.m. to 5 a.m. on the eastbound lane across Upper Providence and Limerick townships from the PA Route 29 interchange at Collegeville-Phoenixville to the Royersford interchange, with reductions from two lanes to one; and
• Daily through Friday (Sept. 25, 2009), road reconstruction from 7 p.m. to 2 p.m. on the westbound lane across Limerick and Upper Providence townships from the Royersford interchange to the PA Route 29 interchange at Collegeville-Phoenixville, with reductions from two lanes to one.

422Improvements.com is a website of the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association, with offices in King of Prussia and Pottstown.

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KING OF PRUSSIA PA – If you’re driving across western Montgomery County (PA) this week  (Sept. 14-20, 2009) on U.S. Route 422, the 422Improvements.com website on Monday reported you can expect these potential travel interruptions:

• Nightly through Thursday (Sept. 17, 2009) from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., road milling on the eastbound and westbound lanes between U.S. Route 202 in King of Prussia and PA Route 23 in Valley Forge;
• Daily through Friday (Sept. 18, 2009), road reconstruction from 10 a.m. to 5 a.m. on the eastbound lane across Upper Providence and Limerick townships from the PA Route 29 interchange at Collegeville-Phoenixville to the Royersford interchange, with reductions from two lanes to one; and
• Daily through Friday (Sept. 18, 2009), road reconstruction from 7 p.m. to 2 p.m. on the westbound lane across Limerick and Upper Providence townships from the Royersford interchange to the PA Route 29 interchange at Collegeville-Phoenixville, with reductions from two lanes to one.

422Improvements.com is a website of the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association, with offices in King of Prussia and Pottstown.

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