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It's Another Red Light for PENNDOT as Somerton Residents Reject 'Parkway' Plan at the March Work Sessions - Showing PENNDOT
that Needed Community Consensus Still Eludes Them

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  • PENNDOT assumed Somerton residents would accept an extension of the Expressway to Bustleton Avenue if limited to 2-lanes. However, residents still believe that building a new road to Bustleton Avenue as a means to solve congestion could never work --- and would actually make congestion even worse in that vicinity.
  • By the second set of work sessions word was out in Somerton - and residents packed the meeting room in St. Andrew's basement to weigh-in on the latest PENNDOT plan to extend the Woodhaven Expressway into Somerton. McCormick Taylor, PENNDOT's meeting facilitator, grossly underestimated the level of community interest which resulted in frustrated residents leaving the March 11 meeting since they could not even get inside the building. MT moved the March 13 meeting to a larger venue, upstairs in the church of St. Andrew's in the Field in order to accomodate the large crowd.
  • At the work sessions, McCormick Taylor's Steve Nieman emphatically denied that Hornig Road would link the industrial park to the new extension - stating that it was a rumor. According to local business owners, MT's John McMullen confirmed a few days later, that Hornig Road would indeed link the industrial park to the new extension, thus proving that MT or PENNDOT cannot be trusted.
MT's
Steve
Nieman

PENNDOT's
Peter
Berthold

PENNDOT's March 4 and March 6 Work Sessions Sh
Residents let PENNDOT know an Extension to Bustleton Ave. is not acceptable - with or without truck traffic!
MT's Paul Archibald tries to sell new extension to Sewell-Stevens residents

MT Team: Steve Nieman and John McMullen
(Blue Shirts)

MT Vice President, Burt Cossaboon discusses project details
with concerned residents


DO
Residents requested that PENNDOT use smart lights, install better signage, improve traffic signal timing, install left green turn signals, and generally improve the intersections.
DON'T
Residents don't want the bridge replaced and don't want Byberry Road to become a cul-de-sac. They don't want a new extension built into Somerton. They do not want local businesses to be bombarded with traffic patterns which would divert customers away from their businesses.