Governor Mark Schweiker
225 Main Capitol
Harrisburg, PA 17120
VIA FAX AND REGULAR MAIL

RE: PennDOT Route 41 Project, Chester County

Dear Governor Schweiker:

I write to urge your administration to rethink PennDOT's proposal to build a four-lane divided highway along the southern ten miles of Pennsylvania Route 41. Route 41 is a rural two-lane roadway that meanders through the rolling farmlands and quaint villages that are the heart of the Brandywine Valley. It is my understanding from discussions with the residents of southern Chester County that the project, as currently proposed by PennDOT, would divide and widen Route 41 to four lanes, erect an elevated highway across the White Clay Creek (one of only three Wild & Scenic rivers in the Pennsylvania and a critical drinking water source), and necessitate condemnation of hundreds of acres of conserved farmlands. I strongly urge you to reject this ill-conceived project, which will catalyze suburban sprawl and jeopardize an ecologically unique region, the economic and environmental health of which depends on preserving farms and open spaces.

As you know, the citizens of Chester County overwhelmingly support open space and farmland preservation efforts to prevent sprawl and to preserve the quality of life in the County. Chester County's award-winning Landscapes plan is a blue print to arrest the sprawling development pattern that has already converted large amounts of farmland and natural land to large building lots and has accelerated the decline of existing towns in the County. This year, alone, the Chester County towns of North Coventry, West Vincent and East Vincent passed open space referenda. These local efforts will build upon the great work of the Brandywine Conservancy and the County's Agricultural Land Preservation Board, which together have preserved many open spaces and farms within the Route 41 corridor.

In one fell swoop, however, PennDOT's Route 41 project will cancel these local government efforts to prevent sprawl. By reducing travel times and exposing vast amounts of farmlands to residential development pressure, the Route 41 project will actually accelerate sprawl in Chester County. In the process, property taxes in the County will continue their upward spiral while the quality of life will decline. This is because a typical large lot residential development consumes far more public resources in the form of infrastructure costs (schools, sewer, water, etc.) than it generates in tax revenue. Farmland, on the other hand, generates far more property tax revenue than it consumes in public resources, thereby providing a net financial benefit to the community. The residential boom that will follow PennDOT's Route 41 will result in higher property taxes, as existing homeowners and businesses in the County will have to bear the infrastructure costs to service these new homes. The residential sprawl boom will also jeopardize the survival of the remaining mushroom farms , which employ hundreds of families living in the "Mushroom Capitol of the World." Mushroom farms will face increasing conflicts with new homeowners who may be unaccustomed to the sights and odors of working mushroom farms, which for fifty years have formed the bedrock of the local economy.

I also share the concern of workers at the Port of Philadelphia who are asking why the Commonwealth would spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a road that will do competitive harm to the Port of Philadelphia by reducing travel times and eliminating tolls for freight going to and from a competitor, the Port of Wilmington. As you may know, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority is deeply concerned about the Route 41 project and has asked PennDOT not to build it. In fact, the vulnerability of the Port of Philadelphia to this kind of unfair competition was highlighted by our regional leaders all the way back in 1989:

The ability of the Port to compete in the targeted markets depends on several key capital investments in Port infrastructure. Without these investments, the Port will continue to lose market share to other Delaware River and North Atlantic ports. . .Highway tolls that penalize east-west traffic place the Port at a disadvantage. Trucks traveling from the Port of Philadelphia to Pittsburgh pay about $100 in tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for a one-way trip. In contrast, north-south traffic . . . incurs no tolls. This toll structure encourages shippers to plan north-south routes and places the Port of Philadelphia at a competitive disadvantage.

Clearly, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should be doing everything in its power to promote the ability of the Port of Philadelphia to compete in the global economy. PennDOT's Route 41 project, however, does just the opposite. Having invested hundreds of millions of dollars to improve rail access to the Port of Philadelphia and to make the Port more competitive, the Route 41 project places that investment at risk. Because rail access to the Port of Wilmington is limited at best, the port relies almost exclusively on tractor trailer trucks to transport freight. This is one reason approximately 2,500 tractor trailers travel on Route 41 every day. By making it easier for these trucks to travel to and from the Port of Wilmington, PennDOT's Route 41 project will further marginalize the Port of Philadelphia. A brand-new four-lane highway will prompt even more shippers to choose the Port of Wilmington over the Port of Philadelphia, as the costs of freight (travel time and toll costs) for Wilmington will be substantially lower than for Philadelphia.

The resulting increase in truck traffic on Route 41 will also devastate the rural communities along the road. Already, Route 41 has an alarmingly high fatality rate, in part because of the extreme number of tractor trailers that it carries (the road is one of only five roads in the entire Commonwealth designated by PennDOT as a "Heavy Truck Crash Corridor"). Safety on Route 41 will worsen if PennDOT builds a four-lane highway because only the first ten miles of Route 41 is slated for expansion. The remaining ten miles north of Route 926, which will remain two lanes and undivided, will be overwhelmed with tractor trailers. Thus, even more big trucks will be competing with automobiles for the same amount of space on this already deadly stretch of highway.

Something must be done to address the congestion and safety problems along Route 41. However, the solution cannot be to build a four-lane superhighway with 60% excess capacity at the expense of local agricultural communities, the quality of life in which depends on preserving farms and open space. That is why I support rethinking available two-lane alternatives that involve a combination of innovative traffic calming measures and limited two-lane capacity improvement around the major "choke point" in Avondale to improve congestion and safety. These measures can be implemented along the entire twenty mile length of Route 41 within a much shorter timeframe and at a fraction of the cost of PennDOT's four-lane expansion. In this way, we can preserve the unique qualities of the Brandywine Valley and protect jobs at the Port of Philadelphia and in the mushroom industry, while also improving the safety and function of Route 41.

In conclusion, the citizens of Chester County do not need a four-lane superhighway that will destroy the environmental, agricultural, and aesthetic qualities of this unique area. Commonwealth agencies like PennDOT have a major role in deciding where transportation infrastructure is developed. I believe PennDOT and other Commonwealth agencies need to do better in aligning these decisions with the needs and desires of local communities to prevent sprawl. PennDOT, as all government agencies, must move away from a myopic view of problems and, instead, take notice of the broader effects of large projects on the interconnected ecological, environmental, social, and economic systems in which we all live.

I trust that you will ensure sensible decision-making in the interest of all citizens of Pennsylvania.

Sincerely yours,

EDWARD G. RENDELL