By Richard L. Gaw

Staff Writer

Through a commitment from Pennsylvania’s Comprehensive Transportation Funding Plan, New Garden Township will receive $2 million to help pay for improvements to the intersection of Baltimore Pike and Newark Road. This project calls for reconstructing, realigning and widening the intersection to include new turn lanes, increasing turning radius, modernizing traffic signals and installing ADA-compliant sidewalks and crosswalks.

In addition, State Sen. Andrew Dinniman recently announced that he has secured an additional $600,000 in state funding for this project.

New Garden is one of three municipalities in Chester County who will receive state funding to improve roads, upgrade intersection and enhance pedestrian and bicycle travel. The other projects being funded include:

$1.26 million for the Borough of Phoenixville for the construction of the Northern Relief Route, Ashburn Road Extension. Under this project, the borough, in partnership with a private developer, will construct a regional arterial connector by reconstructing and extending Ashburn Road (Fillmore Street) 0.34 miles from where Ashburn Road ends to Township Line Road;

$143,836 for Oxford Borough for downtown roadway and pedestrian access improvements related to the construction of a proposed transit center. Funds will be used to reconstruct and repair Second Street (between Locust and Mt. Vernon Streets) and Octoraro Alley (from Second Street to the entrance of the new transit center). Dinniman previously partnered with state Rep. John Lawrence to secure $540,000 in state funding for the transit center; and

Fair Share Properties will receive $750,000 to construct a new connector road and bicycle path running directly west of and parallel to U.S. Route 202 in Westtown Township. The road, connecting West Pleasant Grove Road and Stetson School Drive, will enhance the safety and accessibility of two major intersections along U.S. 202 and provide children with safe routes to school. 

Funding for these projects comes through Act 89 of 2013, Pennsylvania’s Comprehensive Transportation Funding Plan, which increased transit funding and established dedicated multimodal funding for aviation, passenger rail, rail freight, port and bicycle-pedestrian projects. The four Chester County projects were part of 45 multimodal transportation projects across 22 counties that were approved for $41.5 million in state funding. They were selected from more than 220 applicants.

“These projects will provide an additional route to relieve traffic congestion in Phoenixville, repair roads that are vital to development Oxford’s anticipated transit center, and enhance safety and improve the flow of traffic at a key thoroughfare in New Garden,” said Dinniman, who serves on the Senate Transportation Committee.

For more information about the program, including the application form, visit  www.penndot.gov  and click on Multimodal Transportation under the “Projects & Programs” button.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].