Local Legislators Meet With Turnpike Officials on Northeast Extension Project Concerns

WHITPAIN TWP., APRIL 19 --  State Sens. Connie Williams and John Rafferty and state Reps. Kate Harper and Michael Gerber met today with Pennsylvania Turnpike officials who are working on plans to expand the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. During the meeting, the legislators expressed local residents' concerns about the Turnpike Commission’s plans to affect hundreds of properties along the route from the Plymouth Meeting to Lansdale interchanges.

The meeting took place at Whitpain Township. Also attending the meeting were Whitpain Township Supervisor Joe Palmer, Plymouth Township Councilman Vince Gillen, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Southeast Regional Director Joe Feola, Montgomery County Transportation Planner Leo Bagley and others.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission plans to expand the roadway to add more capacity and safety features. More than 67,000 vehicles use the road every day, making it one of the busiest stretches of the entire Pennsylvania Turnpike system.

Responding to complaints of property owners that the current design of the planned project to add one lane in each direction to the Turnpike would wreak havoc in the neighborhoods closest to the Turnpike project, Turnpike engineers agreed to reexamine the storm water management plans with a view toward minimizing the impact on the neighboring properties. The Turnpike engineers agreed to work with Plymouth Township, Whitpain Township, and the DEP on a redesign of the storm water management system, which accounts for the largest number of properties affected by the project.

The elected officials also expressed deep concerns about the plans showing noise walls on some stretches of the roadway but not on others. Turnpike officials agreed to revisit the number of noise barriers as well, explaining that the costs of the walls, together with their use of federal guidelines, had dictated the current noise wall design.

“I think we’ve made significant progress here,” Harper said after the meeting. “I look forward to hearing from the Turnpike in the coming weeks that they were able to change the design to minimize the impact of the project on the communities we represent.”

Gerber said, "This issue is not only critical to those homes that will be threatened but also to those who will be left behind. That is why my colleagues and I are working diligently and in a bi partisan manner with the Turnpike to take a second look at the engineering of this project."