The Sanatoga Post

POTTSTOWN PA – Chalk this one up as a win, at least for now, for the area’s commuting public.

Traffic moves west along U.S. Route 422 at its Royersford-Trappe exit.

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) threw in the towel this week on its two-year-old proposal to impose tolls on drivers who use U.S. Route 422 from King of Prussia to the Berks County line as a means of paying for improvements there. The toll plan was heavily criticized from the start, as opponents derided it as a special tax from which they would receive questionable benefit.

“Public and political sentiment told us that people would rather see a comprehensive statewide solution than a local toll,” DVRPC Executive Director Barry Seymour conceded Tuesday (Oct. 4, 2011) on the agency’s 422plus.com website.

A state Transportation Funding and Advisory Commission in August “proposed a comprehensive package to increase funding for transportation infrastructure across Pennsylvania. Support and passage of this package will enable critical transportation improvements to proceed, without a toll,” Seymour noted.

Whether the commission’s recommendations will be fully implemented, however, remains to be seen. So, too, does whether it will generate enough money to allow substantial improvements to 422, which twice daily becomes so choked with traffic that it slows to a crawl.

Although he acknowledged the plan could currently go no further, he also added that DVRPC’s study of the issue – in partnership with PennDOT, SEPTA, and Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties – indicated “a modest toll managed by a local authority could pay for these improvements, and have them in place far faster than waiting for available funds from Harrisburg or Washington.”

In its pages, Seymour added, the study continues to maintain tolls could be a viable way to proceed if the situation on 422 worsens, or if the advisory commission’s suggestions fail to bring in enough revenue.

Those recommendations include shifting some non-roadway expenses taken from gas tax revenues, which are earmarked to pay for highway improvements, to the state general fund; renewing vehicle registrations every two years, and drivers’ licenses every eight; closing some driver license centers; and allowing uninsured motorists to pay a $500 fine instead of having their registration suspended.

As its closing volley on the subject, the partnership released 12 different downloads on most aspects of the project it studied. Among them were:

• Seymour’s cover letter;
• A summary of the study’s findings; and
• The tolling study’s traffic and revenue forecasts.

Other coverage:

• Route 422 study: Tolling may not be best option (The Mercury)
• Route 422 toll plan gets red light, on indefinite hold (Reading Eagle)
• Official: Tolling Feasible But Not Solution (Pottstown Patch)
• Plan to put tolls on Route 422 appears dead for now (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• Route 422 Toll Plan Officially Dead, At Least For Now
• Lawmakers, Editorials Press On Transportation Funding
• Chamber Presents Members’ Forum On 422 Proposals
• Toll Road, Rail Line Deal Announced … NOT For 422
• 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
• 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

Traffic on U.S. Route 422, near Sanatoga

HARRISBURG PA — Pennsylvania lawmakers are waiting impatiently for Gov. Tom Corbett to take a stance on transportation funding initiatives, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported Friday (Sept. 30, 2011).

A special Transportation Commission named by Corbett submitted a plan to the governor in August (2011) outlining $2.5 billion in new, annually recurring revenues for transportation projects. Lawmakers and newspaper editorial writers are ramping up pressure on Corbett to say whether he will take steps to increase funding for Pennsylvania infrastructure.

Leaders in the General Assembly believe the time is right to address the issue. So far, the administration has been silent.

“I expect that we’ll get an answer out of the governor in the next couple of weeks,” state Secretary of Transportation Barry Schoch told The Independent. “He’s a very thoughtful man, and he is very carefully evaluating the options we gave him.”

One suggestion state Senate Transportation Chairman John Rafferty said he is confident the governor won’t have approved: tolling on U.S. Route 422.

Rafferty, who represents Lower Pottsgrove, Limerick and Pottstown constituents, told The Independent he wanted to “put to bed” the notion that tolls could be applied to existing non-tolled highways, even though lawmakers claim all options in the commission report remain on the table.

There is no proposal in the Legislature or in front of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to toll 422, Rafferty said.

• Read a story by reporter Eric Boehm, titled “All eyes on Corbett when it comes to transportation plan” and published Friday by The Independent, here.

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• Lawmakers, Editorials Press On Transportation Funding
• Chamber Presents Members’ Forum On 422 Proposals
• Toll Road, Rail Line Deal Announced … NOT For 422
• 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
• 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

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

Jon Frey, right, president of the Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition, greets area residents last Tuesday at the Route 422 Forum

HARRISBURG PA — The regional agency pushing for vehicle tolls and the possibility of returning commuter rail service along the U.S. Route 422 corridor is, at least for now, refusing to release to the public information used in creating its plan, The Pennsylvania Independent online news servicereported Friday (Sept. 16, 2011).

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), which is responsible for the tolling proposal, argues it is not subject to the state’s right-to-know law and does not have to provide information so it can be independently verified.

In defiance of a state Office of Open Records ruling that information be disclosed, DVRPC has denied several right-to-know-law requests that seek data on current SEPTA train ridership. They were filed during the past two months by the Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition (PA-TEC), a citizen’s group opposed to 422 tolling, according to The Independent.

DVRPC is asking Commonwealth Court to review and reverse the Office of Open Records decision.

Coalition President Jon Frey told The Independent his group wants to verify the accuracy of a ridership projection for a DVRPC-proposed rail line between Norristown and Reading, which is tentatively planned to make stops in Lower Pottsgrove and Pottstown. Resumption of train service, which ended in the 1980s, would be financed primarily by toll revenue from nearby Route 422.

For now, “any DVRPC records are pre-decisional, deliberative and strategic, and therefore exempt” from the state’s right-to-know law, Candy Snyder, its communications director, replied. Anything that can be made public is already available, she said.

DVRPC Executive Director Barry Seymour was one of several panelists who spoke Tuesday (Sept. 13) during a forum on the 422 proposal held at Pop John Paul II High School in Royersford. It attracted hundreds of area residents, most of whom seemed to oppose tolling.

• Read a story by reporter Eric Boehm, titled “Planning board pushing 422 toll/transit plan shutting out public access” and published Friday by The Independent, here.
• Watch a video (above) with comments from local officials and guests who attended the forum, or see it at The Post’s YouTube user account.

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• 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

Audience members wait patiently for the start of Tuesday's forum on U.S. Route 422 tolling

ROYERSFORD PA – It’s been three days since hundreds of local residents packed into Pope John Paul II High School in Royersford for Tuesday’s (Sept. 13, 2011) highly hyped forum about proposed tolling on U.S. Route 422 between King of Prussia and the Berks County line. There have been thousands of words written about it, and an almost endless stream of images and video footage. For those who missed them, see the resource list at bottom.

For those who want a different perspective, here are jottings from a reporter’s notebook:

Those question cards just didn’t cut it

Aides to the several state representatives who sponsored the forum positioned themselves in the aisles of the school auditorium as the crowd streamed in. They were ready to hand out cards on which audience members could write their questions for panelists, which would then be read aloud by host Rep. Mike Vereb.

What the aides weren’t ready for was audience anger.

It quickly became clear to them that people had arrived at the high school intending to speak, to make their voices heard, to earn some personal peace by saying their piece. Some would have talked off the cuff. Some came with prepared statements; at least one was several pages long.

A few confronted the aides directly as the cards were distributed. “I don’t want this,” one man said to a female assistant, who held out a card and smiled as graciously as possible. “I want the sign-up sheet. I’ve got something to say. When do I get the chance?,” he growled. “This is supposed to be a public meeting. The public gets to talk at a public meeting.”

He wasn’t alone in the sentiment. If the pols in attendance learned anything new Tuesday, it may have been that they need to hold a second forum – somewhere down the road, as plans with 422 unfold – at which voters, drivers, riders, business owners and other citizens of all stripes can air their praise for or contempt of tolling, even if the purpose it serves is only cathartic.

The panelists had their say. The people seemingly still want theirs.

Seymour and Hoeffel: Daniels in the lions’ den

Their opinions were unpopular, and they knew it. They would be two against the multitude, and they knew that too. There they were anyway: Barry Seymour, executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, to explain and advocate for collecting tolls on 422 as a means to pay for its improvement.

Neither is a stranger to controversial topics – they’ve separately faced plenty of disgruntled folks before in different venues – and they appeared comfortable in the role again. One audience member, a woman waiting for the proceedings to start, was overheard using the word “stoic” to describe Seymour. Hoeffel was derided for being too chatty; his answers to questions occasionally ran longer than the crowd had patience for, and it jeered and grumbled.

At the panelists' table, before the show began: from left, Seymour, Huskey, Kampf, Toepel

Curiously, Seymour and Hoeffel were seated at the LEFT of the on-stage table facing the audience; three of the area’s four state representatives – Tom Quigley, Marcy Toepel, and Warren Kampf – were seated at its RIGHT; and newspaper editor Stan Huskey of The (Norristown PA) Times-Herald was seated at CENTER. No one involved in the forum seemed able to answer whether that positioning was planned, or simply chance.

Not all the scenes took place on stage

It’s been said politics is a blood sport without the mess of blood. Whether that’s true or not is for others to decide. Political forums like the one held Tuesday do indeed have their moments of conquest and vanquish, of drama and theatrics, of earnestness and hard work.

Which is which?

Clockwise, from left: Campion; Neafcy and Castor, and the Rev. Okon

Scene One: County Commissioner Bruce Castor, an outspoken tolling opponent and Hoeffel detractor who is running for re-election, arrived at the forum and stopped to say hello to Limerick (PA) Township Board of Supervisors’ Chairman Tom Neafcy. “I just came to see what would happen,” Castor said.

Scene Two: Gilbertsville resident Sue Campion operates a courier business that makes daily runs to locations all across the 422 Corridor. Tolling would increase her costs. She arrived at the forum with a hand-crafted sign that made her an instant celebrity. Every television cameraman in the place at one time or another trained an unblinking eye on its demand: “No new taxes on my ability to conduct business.”

Scene Three: Once the forum began the Rev. Alan Okon Jr., president of the high school, looked his usual priestly self: black slacks, black shirt and white cleric’s collar, black sport coat. He offered a warm welcome from the podium to audience members, many of whom likely were visiting his facility for the first time.

During the hour before, however, he was dressed in shirt sleeves and touching all the bases. He checked with the sound crew, the video crew, the lighting crew to ensure their needs were met. He shook hands with every state rep as they appeared, as well as House Deputy Press Secretary Tricia Graham, and asked if he could be of help. And he smiled easily, even though he also had to simultaneously prepare for the unexpected closing of his school the following day, due to a teachers’ strike.

You might have sworn he had Help From On High to remain stress-free.

Other coverage:

• Read a story by editor Teresa McMinn, titled “What Are You Prepared To Do To Fix 422?” and published Tuesday by The Pottstown Patch online news service, here.
• Read a second story by McMinn, titled “What’s The Future For Route 422?” and published Tuesday by The Patch, here.
• Read a story by reporter Evan Brandt, titled “Crowd gives 422 tolling plan unwelcome reception” and published Wednesday by The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper, here.

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• 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

ROYERSFORD PA – Make no mistake: Jon Frey, a Philadelphia resident who represents a group called the Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition, doesn’t like the idea of imposing tolls on vehicles driving U.S. Route 422 between King of Prussia and the Berks County PA line. “The best course of action is to scrap the current (tolling) proposal and start fresh,” he says in an e-mail to The Post.

Quigley distributed this flyer for his event tonight

But Frey thinks the public needs to make up its own mind and hear from experts and government officials on the tolling issue. So his organization and several others are urging area residents to attend a forum on the topic scheduled to begin tonight (Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011) at 7 p.m. in Pope John Paul II High School, 181 Rittenhouse Rd., Royersford PA.

• For an earlier Post story on this event, read “Quigley Seeks Crowd As Source Of Comments On 422,” here.

The recommendation to charge drivers fees to travel a 25-mile segment of the east-west highway, and use the resulting dedicated revenue to pay for road improvements and possibly even mass transit there, was made more than a year ago by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC).

State Rep. Tom Quigley, whose 146th District includes Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick townships and the borough of Pottstown, is sponsoring the forum. Quigley’s no fan of tolling either, he made clear this spring during a roadside press conference in Oaks, where he was joined by several other House representatives from the area.

Those willing to consider 422 tolling argue Quigley has stacked the forum’s deck. Two advocates scheduled to speak tonight are Barry Seymour, DVRPC executive director, and Joe Hoeffel, out-going Montgomery County commissioner and former DVRPC board chairman. Four other panelists – state Reps. Marcy Toepel (R-Montgomery), Warren Kampf (R-Montgomery and Chester), and Mike Vereb (R-Montgomery); and Stan Huskey, editor of The (Norristown PA) Times-Herald newspaper, oppose the concept.

Frey has an agenda too, he admits. His group contends passenger rail service in southeastern Pennsylvania needs to be expanded, and its particular emphasis is on reinstating service to SEPTA‘s Fox Chase-Newtown rail line. “Using tolls to fund transit sets a bad example,” he wrote to The Post last week (Sept. 7). “It avoids the transit funding issue, and could mean no funding for transit in areas without tollable roads.”

• Read Frey’s letter to The Post in its entirety, which includes several reasons why he opposes 422 tolling, here.

“This is an interactive event and audience participation is encouraged,” according to Quigley. Those who are unable to attend but would like to submit a question for tonight’s panelists should call his district office, located on East High Street in Sanatoga, at 610-326-9563.

Other advance coverage about the forum:

• Read a story by reporter Evan Brandt, titled “Drivers invited to forum tonight on 422 tolls” and published Tuesday in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury nespaper, here.

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• 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

Quigley also distributed this flyer for his Sept. 13 event

ROYERSFORD PA – Crowd-sourcing will soon be put to work in a battle by Tom Quigley, the state representative from Pennsylvania’s 146th District, against a proposal to impose vehicle tolls on U.S. Route 422 from King of Prussia PA west to the Berks County line.

Crowd-sourcing is a currently popular term that sometimes describes gathering information and opinions from an assembled constituency (a “crowd” that serves as an authoritative “source”) with which to build and make a case on a specific topic. The process usually happens online, where people comment – often in strident tones – at social media forums like Twitter and Facebook.

Quigley, whose district includes Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick (PA) townships and the borough of Pottstown, is taking the concept a step further. He’s holding a forum Sept. 13 (201l; Tuesday) beginning at 7 p.m. in Pope John Paul II High School, 181 Rittenhouse Rd., Royersford PA, to let local residents air their thoughts on 422 tolling in person.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

The proposal to charge drivers fees to travel a 25-mile segment of the east-west highway, and use the resulting dedicated revenue to pay for road improvements and possibly even mass transit there, was suggested more than a year ago by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC). Quigley and several other House representatives made their opposition clear during a roadside press conference this spring.

In an e-mail distributed Wednesday (Aug. 31), Quigley said he rejects “any tolling proposal that does not gather input from the people who would be most affected by tolling. I am hosting this forum to give my constituents the opportunity to ask questions and voice their opinions and concerns.”

Joining Quigley at the event as panelists are state Reps. Marcy Toepel (R-Montgomery), Warren Kampf (R-Montgomery/Chester), and Mike Vereb (R-Montgomery); Stan Huskey, editor of The (Norristown PA) Times-Herald newspaper; Barry Seymour, DVRPC executive director; and Montgomery County Commissioner and former DVRPC Board Chairman Joe Hoeffel.

“This is an interactive event and audience participation is encouraged,” Quigley wrote. Those who are unable to attend but would like to submit a question for the panelists should call his district office, located on East High Street in Sanatoga, at 610-326-9563.

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• 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

Bruce Castor and Jenny Brown

NORRISTOWN PA – The two endorsed Republican candidates campaigning to become Montgomery County (PA) commissioners in the fall general election said Wednesday they strongly opposed any plans to impose tolls on motorists using U.S. Route 422 between King of Prussia and Reading PA.

“Taxpayers have already paid for Route 422, and tolling in this circumstance is not appropriate,” said Jenny Brown, a tax attorney and local business owner. Her running mate, current Commissioner Bruce Castor, announced his opposition earlier; “County residents are taxed enough for their services in difficult economic times,” he told a newspaper last week, and added, “a toll is a tax.”

Brown and Castor joined what they called “growing opposition to the toll proposal.” State lawmakers also against tolling include Lower Pottsgrove, Limerick and Pottstown Rep. Tom Quigley, as well as Reps. Michael Vereb (R-150th Dist.), David Maloney (R-130th), Marcy Toepel (R-147th), and Warren Kampf (R-157th).

Brown is a founding partner at the Bridgeport PA law firm of Brown & Silbergeld, where she specializes in municipal finance. Castor is a former two-term county district attorney, and now works as a private attorney at the Elliot Greenleaf law firm in Blue Bell PA.

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• 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

Cover of the 422 Master Plan Summary Report.

PHILADELPHIA PA – Today (Monday, Nov. 30, 2009) is the last day available for public comment on the draft executive summary of a report likely to affect the future of the 25-mile-long U.S. Route 422 corridor between King of Prussia PA and Reading PA, and its tens of thousands of residents.

• Read the 66-page draft report, issued in October 2009, here.
• Comment on the report here. To be able to comment, you must join the report’s host website – 422Corridor.com – as a member, in the same way you would join any social network like Twitter or Facebook. Becoming a member requires commenters to supply only a verifiable e-mail address and desired password. No personal information need be supplied unless desired.

“The U.S. 422 Corridor Master Plan Summary Report” is an overview of current economic, social, land use and transportation conditions along what the Philadelphia-based Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, for which the report was prepared, considers “the single most important and fastest-growing suburban expressway in the Philadelphia suburban region.”

The report’s statistics, tables, charts, graphs and supplemental materials also form a justification for what some members of the public describe as thought-provoking, even controversial, proposals. They include:

• The potential for open road tolling on U.S. Route 422, currently a free roadway, to raise funds for its improvement and other forms of transportation as well;
• The extension of rail service from Norristown into western Montgomery and Berks counties, possibly as far as Reading;
• The addition of new, and expansion of existing, bicycle and walking trail systems to accommodate alternate transportation; and
• Land use changes that would intensify development in certain areas, restrict it in others, and undoubtedly change the appearance and function of most affected towns and villages over the course of a decade.

Such suggestions are not new. Most have been publicly discussed and dissected for months, and some for years. The report, however, represents a comprehensive packaging of the proposals, and shows how they might be put into practice as various components of a single plan. Experts say implementing them is necessary to prevent further vehicular gridlock on 422, and prevent an unsustainable sprawl of development across the corridor.

Lower Pottsgrove, Limerick and Pottstown are prominent in the report.

Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick (PA) townships, and the borough of Pottstown, figure prominently in the report. Some of its recommendations deal specifically with existing or future scenarios in all three municipalities. They lie in the center of the corridor, and parts of each are foreseen as sites of intense commercial and residential construction through 2015.

Public comments made on the report will be incorporated into a final document to be published later next year, according to its author, the engineering and planning firm McCormick Taylor. Municipal governments must then approve the report to allow its advancement.

Related:

• Isolating Report’s Look At Lower Pottsgrove

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• 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

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PHILADELPHIA PA – Based on facts cited, statistics compiled, and evidence mounted, the authors of a “U.S. 422 Corridor Master Plan Summary Report” conclude the current pace of development along the four-lane limited-access highway between King of Prussia PA and Reading PA is unsustainable at best, and dangerous at worst.

• Read a companion story titled “Last Day For Your Say On Route 422 Draft.”

Whether they’re right or wrong is yet to be determined by the public and their elected and appointed officials. Today is the last day for public comment on a draft version of the report.

No matter what ultimately happens with the document and any decisions arising from it, its immediate value may lie in the graphic look it gives residents of their local world, and how its economic, business, and transportation environments affect their lives.

The Post has cropped or edited four of the report’s illustrations to focus its broader study of the corridor into isolated snapshots-in-time of life in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township. The 66-page draft report features 20 such illustrations.

Existing Land Use in Lower Pottsgrove, 2005.

Land Use. Four years ago, the above map excerpt from the report shows, the bulk of land within the township had already been used by or set aside for detached single-family homes (areas in bright yellow). With the exception of recreational areas (in light green) like township parks, most of the wooded (dark green) and agricultural (light tan) areas of Lower Pottsgrove were limited to its northern end (at top). Some of those formerly untouched spots now are the subject of future residential development plans.

Population growth in Lower Pottsgrove and neighboring municipalities.

Population growth. Limerick (PA) Township, on Lower Pottsgrove’s eastern border, experienced explosive growth in a 10-year period. Its population more than doubled, the above map excerpt from the report shows. Although its growth was nowhere near as substantial, with a 27.3-percent increase during the decade, Lower Pottsgrove’s population growth was significantly higher than any other municipality within the 19464 and 19465 “Pottstown” zip codes. In effect, according to the data, more people who wanted a Pottstown address between 1990 and 2000 chose to live in Lower Pottsgrove.

Much of the land in Lower Pottsgrove is well suited for development.

Suitability for development. Why are contractors so interested in building in Lower Pottsgrove? About two-thirds of the land encompassed within township borders (shown in the report map excerpt above) is considered suitable for development, with the best areas (darkest green) in the northeast and east.

As elsewhere on Route 422, traffic grinds through Lower Pottsgrove.

Average daily traffic. Anyone who travels by car from Lower Pottsgrove to somewhere else on any given weekday, and increasingly on some weekends, knows how vehicular traffic can grind to a crawl during peak hours. The report map excerpt above, which relies on Pennsylvania Department of Transportation data, shows that in 2008 more than 51,000 cars traveled U.S. Route 422 (orange line) on an average day. Armand Hammer Boulevard, from Pottstown Memorial Medical Center (PMMC) south to the on-ramp for 422, saw more than 15,000 cars per day, as did Ridge Pike from PMMC east into Limerick and beyond (dark green lines). And almost 10,000 cars per day were cruising Industrial Highway (light green line).

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