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Road funds found

Financial help should be on the way to area roads and public transit. U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, R-16, East Marlborough, added language to a congressional transportation bill (H.R.3), which Congress passed on March 10 that will allow long-planned, cash-strapped projects on Route 41 and Route 52 to move forward. The vote was 417 to 9. The Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users will protect public transit in Lancaster , Reading and 50 other communities like them across the nation, Pitts announced in a press release. The legislation also authorizes the government to spend $16 million altogether on transportation projects in the 16th Congressional District. "This bill funds our vital transportation needs," said Pitts. "I am pleased that it invests $16 million in transportation projects for our area."

Specifically the bill authorizes spending $4.2 million for the Route 41 bypass project and $1.2 million for relocating Route 52 from the village of Hamorton along the edge of Longwood Gardens property to Route 926. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Dee Durham, executive director for Save, an activist group for improving safety along Route 41, said the bill appears to help move the process forward. "We applaud funding for this project. We've said all along that we've wanted to see this project expedited." Save is an acronym for Safety, Agriculture, Villages and Environment. The non-profit community group aims to improve safety for all users of 41, and balance transportation needs while preserving the unique natural, agricultural and historic resources and environmentally sensitive open space of the region. "I think everyone agrees that 41 needs immediate attention. We just want to make sure the chosen alternative takes in to mind [Chester] County and land-use goals and not just through-traffic."

The money for Route 41 will go toward studies, conducting an environmental review and acquiring rights-of-way, Pitts' Communications Director Derek Karchner said. The funds would be made available for whichever type of design the community and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation agrees on. "It does not dictate which way PennDOT or the community should go. It just funds whichever way they want to go," he said. The appropriation would be part of a $284 million federal release of funds over six years, said Karchner, who was optimistic the bill would pass this year. If the bill is passed by May, then the money would be available by late summer or September, he said, but it's more likely the bill will be done in the fall, freeing up funds by next summer, 2006. Assuming the Senate passes the bill, the increased funding doesn't mean a Route 41 project will be kick-started into gear, however. At this time PennDOT is still working on a plan all factions of the community will accept regarding the more highly charged debate over Route 41. The earmarked funds would not come with conditions on how quickly it must be spent, "but the money is certainly welcome," said Vito Genua, assistant district executive for design for PennDOT. "It doesn't move the project along any faster. Right now it's more about coming together to solve differences. That's the goal," Genua said. "The more the community, and that includes PennDOT and all the other groups and municipalities, comes together to work it through, the better it is."

Route 52's future, on the other hand, seems surer. Longwood Gardens is picking up the design costs of the plan that is about 35 percent complete, said Genua, who characterized the project's chances of coming together in the next few years as good. PennDOT would build it. "We'll continue to work with Longwood Gardens to make this work," he said. "It's a very active project." Longwood Gardens Director Fred Roberts said thoughts of redoing Route 52 started as early as 1984. Throughout, Longwood has received great support from all three townships involved — East Marlborough, Kennett and Pennsbury — as well as from the Chester County Commissioners and the Chester County Planning Commission, Roberts said. "The sense we have is that it will happen fairly soon, maybe even in the next two or three years," Roberts said, though he noted that no official notice has been given yet. He said three important traffic safety and control concerns would be addressed: 1. The intersection at routes 52 and 926 will be squared-up allowing for appropriate left-hand turn lanes throughout. "If it won't be 90 degrees it will be very close to it," Roberts said. 2. Drivers turning north onto Route 52 from northbound Route 1 will be provided with two stacking lanes from Hamorton back to where the current too-short stacking lanes are currently. 3. The right-turn lane from northbound Route 1 onto Route 52 south will be improved so cars can make the turn unimpeded by the two through-lanes.

The road construction will also allow Longwood to better use its property, particularly the section east of Route 52, on what is known as the Webb Farm. The old section of Route 52 will be removed between Route 926 and Webb Farm Lane; the land there remediated and rehabilitated for wetlands. The section from Webb Farm Lane to Route 1 will be carved down to half its size and turned into a service road. "We'll be able to open much more of Longwood to the general public," Roberts said. "It'll be wonderful."