Phila Woodhaven Rd Expy talks
Lisa nor Jeff
be an E-W bypass to the Pa Tpk back in 1953. Construction was
halted in 1977 due to lack of funds, fed red tape and NIMBY.
The road now is a short spur from I-95 to US 1 (Roos Blvd).
PennDOT is holding hearings on what to do with it.
See the Phila Inqr front page 1/29/01 (www.philly.com).
(Perhaps someone could post the full article here.)
Steve Anderson
>
> In NE Philadelphia, the Woodhaven Rd expressway was proposed to
> be an E-W bypass to the Pa Tpk back in 1953. Construction was
> halted in 1977 due to lack of funds, fed red tape and NIMBY.
> The road now is a short spur from I-95 to US 1 (Roos Blvd).
>
> PennDOT is holding hearings on what to do with it.
>
by Jere Downs, The Philadelphia Inquirer (1/29/2002)
"Some call it the Missing Link to Montgomery County. The six-lane
Woodhaven Expressway - conceived in 1953 as a city/suburban bypass to
the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but stunted in mid-construction in 1977 -
still ends abruptly in a patch of woods in Northeast Philadelphia two
miles from the Franklin Mills mall.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is now seeking to end
decades of dithering over the expressway, which has been stalled by a
state funding crisis, opposition from Lower Moreland residents who
perceive the project as dumping city traffic into their township, and
federal red tape."
Click on the URL for the rest of the article:
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2002/01/29/front_page/SWOOD29.htm
EDITOR'S NOTE: I was interviewed yesterday by Jere Downs of the Inquirer
on my thoughts about Woodhaven Road (PA 63). As a follow-up, I will be
featured for in a future Inquirer Sunday article on phillyroads.com.
-- Steve Anderson
http://www.nycroads.com (returning soon)
http://www.phillyroads.com
http://www.bostonroads.com
Raymond C Martin Jr
Upon searching, I found three from the last 7 days. Here are all (two
nearly identical):
> Montgomery section
>
> Friday, January 25, 2002
>
> Rte. 63 plans to be shown
>
> LOWER MORELAND - PennDot will hold a public meeting on Tuesday to review
> proposals to extend the Woodhaven Road Expressway (State Route 63) in
> Northeast Philadelphia and Lower Moreland Township. The meeting will be held
> at Lower Moreland High School, 555 Red Lion Rd., Huntingdon Valley, beginning
> at 6 p.m.
>
> Plans for improvement alternatives will be on display, and a presentation on
> the Woodhaven Road study will begin at 7:30 p.m. A question-and-answer
> session will follow.
> Philadelphia section
>
> Friday, January 25, 2002
>
> Plans for extension of Woodhaven Rd. to be reviewed
>
> LOWER MORELAND - PennDot will hold a public meeting on Tuesday to review
> proposals to extend the Woodhaven Road Expressway (State Route 63) in
> Northeast Philadelphia and Lower Moreland Township.
>
> The 6 p.m. meeting will be held at Lower Moreland High School, 555 Red Lion
> Rd., Huntingdon Valley. Plans for improvement alternatives will be on
> display, and a presentation on the Woodhaven Road study will begin at 7:30
> p.m. A question-and-answer session will follow.
>
> Since the start of the study in 1993, PennDot has examined 12 alternatives to
> relieve traffic congestion in this section of Philadelphia and eastern
> Montgomery County.
> Region section
>
> Tuesday, January 29, 2002
>
> Decision day on fate of freeway
>
> Residents will vote today on how to complete the Woodhaven Expressway between
> Philadelphia and Montgomery County.
>
> By Jere Downs
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
>
> Some call it the Missing Link to Montgomery County. The six-lane Woodhaven
> Expressway - conceived in 1953 as a city/suburban bypass to the Pennsylvania
> Turnpike, but stunted in mid-construction in 1977 - still ends abruptly in a
> patch of woods in Northeast Philadelphia two miles from the Franklin Mills
> mall.
>
> The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is now seeking to end decades
> of dithering over the expressway, which has been stalled by a state funding
> crisis, opposition from Lower Moreland residents who perceive the project as
> dumping city traffic into their township, and federal red tape.
>
> Over the years, doing nothing has transformed Byberry Road - a two-lane
> residential street in Somerton - into the de facto east-west artery between
> Northeast Philadelphia and eastern Montgomery County.
>
> From 6 to 9 tonight at Lower Moreland High School, 555 Red Lion Road,
> Huntingdon Vallley, PennDot will ask residents to choose among four ways to
> loosen gridlock. They are:
>
> Continue a four-lane Woodhaven Expressway on the vacant state-owned
> right-of-way to Philmont Avenue on Lower Moreland's border, and widen Byberry
> Road from two to four lanes to Huntingdon Pike (Route 232).
>
> Continue the expressway to a widened Bustleton Avenue, directing traffic
> north to County Line Road.
>
> Expand the expressway westward a half-mile over railroad tracks to
> Worthington Road, where a Byberry Road widened from two to four lanes would
> handle the load to Huntingdon Pike.
>
> Continue to do nothing.
>
> If agreement could be reached on one of the top three options, construction
> would still be between seven and 10 years away - after exhaustive federal
> environmental studies.
>
> Yet PennDot is loath to give the project any more attention without at least
> some consensus between Lower Moreland and Northeast Philadelphia. Hence,
> tonight's meeting, where residents can vote on an option.
>
> "Tuesday night is a make-or-break event. I'm ready to say: 'This is our last
> shot, people,' " PennDot District Administrator Andrew Warren said. "Sooner
> or later, this project has to take life or be buried."
>
> In Somerton and Bustleton, activists want the highway extended westward to
> Philmont - on the now-forested right-of-way acquired when PennDot demolished
> 28 homes in the late 1960s.
>
> "No one can convince me that it would pay for the state to widen Byberry or
> Bustleton when they already own the ground to extend the highway," said Mary
> Jane Hazell, 68, president of the Somerton Civic Association.
>
> No one quibbles that Byberry needs relief. That burdened two-lane road, lined
> with historic properties, carries up to 40,000 cars a day.
>
> Between Evans Street, where Woodhaven now ends, and Philmont, most Byberry
> intersections are so clogged that motorists routinely wait through two or
> three lights during peak hours, PennDot project manager Joseph Capella said.
>
> But widening Byberry is not popular to some Somerton residents.
>
> "We now have a police officer escort senior citizens across the street to go
> to Mass on Saturday nights" because of the heavy traffic, Hazell said of an
> FOP retirement home bordering Byberry.
>
> Hazell wants to see the city enjoy a high-speed thoroughfare, one long
> resisted by more affluent Lower Moreland residents.
>
> "Lower Moreland has had the upper hand on this for the last 50 years," Hazell
> said.
>
> But Lower Moreland's Board of Commissioners opposes any highway contiguous to
> its border.
>
> "We don't want to move the problem from a few blocks to the west to dump it
> on us," Commissioner Francis Devinney said. Township officials endorse the
> plan that would skirt Lower Moreland entirely, he said.
>
> Although many of his constituents reside in Somerton, Sen. Mike Stack (D.,
> Phila.) chooses Plan Three as a pragmatic compromise.
>
> Given the political quagmire, pushing Woodhaven Expressway west to
> Worthington to flow onto a widened Byberry Road "is our best option," Stack
> said.
>
> "It is certainly better than nothing."
Project Website: http://www.woodhavenroad.com/
====
Raymond C Martin Jr
http://www.njfreeways.com/
Raymond C Martin Jr
> Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 17:37:01 -0500
> From: "I-95 E-Bulletins" <eBull...@95revive.com>
> To: "Raymond C Martin Jr" <fama...@yahoo.com>
> Subject: PENNDOT Announces Initial Results of Woodhaven Rd. Survey
>
> Citizens can fill out questionnaire on-line through Feb. 8 at
> www.woodhavenroad.com
>
> KING OF PRUSSIA, PA (January 31, 202) -- The Pennsylvania Department
> of Transportation (PENNDOT) today announced the initial results of a
> survey taken at Tuesday night's (Jan. 29) public meeting on the Woodhaven
> Road Improvement Project in Northeast Philadelphia and Lower Moreland
> Township, Montgomery County.
>
> Of the 881 questionnaires with answers to the question, "What build
> alternative do you feel best warrants further study", 48 percent favored
> the Bustleton Avenue alternative; 46 percent favored the Woodhaven Road
> Extension alternative, and 6 percent favored the Byberry Road upgrade
> alternative. This question of which alternative best warrants further
> study was not completed on 130 surveys.
>
> Citizens participated in the Woodhaven Road survey by completing a
> paper questionnaire or answering at an electronic polling station at the
> meeting, or by completing the questionnaire on the Woodhaven Road project
> web site --- www.woodhavenroad.com. PENNDOT expects to have final
> results of the entire survey in late February.
>
> Citizens who did not attend last Tuesday's public meeting can
> participate in the survey by completing the Woodhaven Road questionnaire on
> the project web site through February 8, 2002.
>
> PENNDOT is surveying citizens to gain public insight on the
> alternatives under consideration. The survey results do not automatically
> eliminate any alternative or determine the future plan to improve traffic
> flow along the Woodhaven Road Corridor. PENNDOT will take this information
> under consideration as it determines the project's future course.
> PENNDOT held Tuesday night's public meeting to update citizens and
> gather information on the proposed alternatives to extend the Woodhaven
> Road Expressway. The meeting was held at Lower Moreland High School.
>
> Under the Woodhaven Road Environmental Impact Study, PENNDOT is
> evaluating alternatives to improve travel through the study area that
> stretches from the existing Woodhaven Road Expressway in Philadelphia into
> Lower Moreland Township. The alternatives developed to address recent
> traffic projections involve upgrading and improving Byberry Road, the
> Woodhaven Road Expressway, Bustleton Avenue, and major arterials that are
> part of the highway network within the study area.
>
> Since the start of the study in 1993, PENNDOT has investigated 13
> improvement alternatives to relieve traffic congestion in this part of
> Northeast Philadelphia and eastern Montgomery County. McCormick Taylor and
> Associates of Philadelphia is the engineering firm conducting the study for
> PENNDOT.
>
> For more information on the Woodhaven Road study, visit the project
> website at www.woodhavenroad.com.
stéphane dumas
> Click on the URL for the rest of the article:
> http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2002/01/29/front_page/SWOOD29.htm
>
> EDITOR'S NOTE: I was interviewed yesterday by Jere Downs of the Inquirer
> on my thoughts about Woodhaven Road (PA 63). As a follow-up, I will be
> featured for in a future Inquirer Sunday article on phillyroads.com.
I checked at PA63 before your updated thanks to Archive.org
http://web.archive.org/web/20010506112024/http://www.phillyroads.com/roads/P
A-63/
and you removed the following ". A new interchange should be constructed
along the Pennsylvania Turnpike-Delaware River Extension (I-276) - the new
EXIT 347 - for the PA 63 Expressway" I wondered why?
>
> -- Steve Anderson
> http://www.nycroads.com (returning soon)
> http://www.phillyroads.com
> http://www.bostonroads.com
Stéphane Dumas steph...@videotron.ca
Steve Anderson
>
> > Steve Anderson wrote:
> >
> > EDITOR'S NOTE: I was interviewed yesterday by Jere Downs of the Inquirer
> > on my thoughts about Woodhaven Road (PA 63). As a follow-up, I will be
> > featured for in a future Inquirer Sunday article on phillyroads.com.
>
> I checked at PA63 before your updated thanks to Archive.org
> http://web.archive.org/web/20010506112024/http://www.phillyroads.com/roads/P
> A-63/
> and you removed the following ". A new interchange should be constructed
> along the Pennsylvania Turnpike-Delaware River Extension (I-276) - the new
> EXIT 347 - for the PA 63 Expressway" I wondered why?
Yes, I originally had that recommendation for extending PA 63 northwest
to the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-276), as a possible alternative if the
I-95/I-276 interchange project were to be canceled. The built-up
right-of-way and significant opposition through Lower Moreland Township
(they're pretty vocal, according to Jere Downs), as well as the progress
on the I-95/I-276 interchange project, led me to reconsider.