Outlets' Exit to 422 West Ready Ahead of Schedule

Sanatoga Ramp to 422 West Ready Ahead of Schedule

By Joe Zlomek November 11, 2021

LIMERICK PA – Road construction workers, to no surprise of Manager Daniel Kerr or members of the Limerick Board of Supervisors, have finished ahead of schedule in their task to build the new westbound on-ramp to U.S. Route 422 (at top and below) at its Sanatoga interchange, the public learned during Tuesday’s (Nov. 9, 2021) board meeting.

Work on the ramp began during June. It’s planned to be open by Monday (Nov. 15), Kerr reported.

Limerick and Lower Pottsgrove townships joined forces years ago to accumulate enough grant funding to create the $1.4 million project, paid for in large part by the state’s Commonwealth Financing Authority. Builders beat by more than a week its targeted completion before Black Friday (Nov. 26), the usual start of the holiday shopping season.

The installation and opening of the ramp is expected to relieve severe traffic congestion as drivers depart the Philadelphia Premium Outlets and head west toward Pottstown and Reading. It eliminates their need to cross the southbound lane of traffic on Evergreen Road headed into the outlets, which since the center’s opening has been a scene of seemingly perpetual accidents.

That cross-over apparently will be blocked so exiting traffic can be re-directed down the ramp once it is open.

Workers were seen Wednesday (Nov. 10) putting finishing touches on the ramp, and also installing curbs and traffic controls at the intersection of Evergreen and Lightcap roads near the outlets’ entrances.

The ramp’s pending completion also was a subject of brief conversation during the Thursday (Nov. 4) meeting of Lower Pottsgrove’s Board of Commissioners. Its members worried about accidents on the “tight” turn westbound drivers must follow as they exit from northbound Evergreen onto the ramp that curves down to 422 West. Township Manager Ed Wagner assured commissioners the turn posed no hazards, and even joked that drivers might feel like they were on a banked race track.

Limerick and Lower Pottsgrove also are collaborating to find funding to build an eastbound off-ramp to the south lane of Evergreen at Sanatoga, which would speed traffic flow entering the outlets from the direction of Pottstown and Reading. The majority of money needed for that work, about $4 million, is not yet in hand.

Photos by The Posts

Coverage from the Limerick supervisors’ Nov. 9 meeting: