Turnpike Widening
Update - November 8, 2007 Thanks to great work on the part of our elected officials and to public pressure from residents and groups including WRO, the Turnpike Commission has announced that they will not be taking homes to build retention basins. Also, they will be limiting the use of "partial takes" (condemnation of land but not the structure) by replacing earthen slopes with retaining walls. The press release announcing the changes is here (pdf format). While half of the battle appears won, they are still in the process of reexamining the placement of sound barriers. Our latest information is that revised sound barrier information will not be available until sometime in the spring of 2008. ---------- ### ----------------- On March 29, 2007, the Turnpike Commission held an open house to display preliminary plans to widen the Northeast Extension from four lanes to six between Plymouth Meeting and Lansdale (news report, here). Troubling was the lack of advance notice given by the Commission of the meeting (our press release, here). However, due to letter notice of the meeting by Whitpain Township, extensive TV coverage garnered by Plymouth residents and e-mail notice to our members, the meeting was well attended.
Under the present widening proposal, approximately nine homeowners will lose their entire property and an additional 200 homeowners will lose part of their property to eminent domain takings. Most of the taking appears to be due to a need for stormwater management. The Commission has apparently chosen a very basic stormwater management system rather than a more advanced system that would decrease the need to seize property. The PaDEP publication titled "Pennsylvania Stormwater Best Practices Manual" is available, in it's entirety, here. The chapter that describes stormwater management systems is available, here.
The present plan bears little resemblance to that which was negotiated with the Township over the past several years. In addition to a dramatic increase in proposed takings, promised noise barriers are not being shown on the present plans. The text of Supervisor Joe Palmer's letter to the editor which was published in the April 4, 2007, Ambler Gazette is available, here. A copy of the Board of Supervisors' resolution against the current plan is here.
We believe that people should not be forced from their homes except as a last resort. If you agree, please write or call your Pennsylvania Senator and Representative to have them lead the Turnpike Commission to a less intrusive stormwater management plan. A list of elected officials who serve Whitpain Township is available on the lower part of this page. For those from other Pennsylvania communities, there is a search widget in the upper right hand corner of this page.
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