By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

From the time it was founded in 1997, S.A.V.E. (Safety, Agriculture, Villages & Environment) has served as an unofficial overseer of Chester County’s preservation and is among its chief advocates in the consortium of efforts being made to retain the county’s rural character.

Together with cooperative partnerships with other environmental agencies, S.A.V.E. has progressively balanced its vision on the sliver-thin tightrope that combines slow and measured progress and the stubborn resistance to sell off the county to the bulldozers of oversaturation. 

Over those years, the group’s annual meetings have served as a manifestation of its principles, and on Oct. 21, a presentation before environmentalists, concerned residents and state and local officials tackled a frequently discussed topic: Route 41 – the “common thread” corridor that slices through several townships from Cochranville to the Delaware state line.

Held at the Stroud Water Research Center, the meeting was highlighted by “Begin with the End in Mind: Vision-Based Transportation Planning,” a presentation by Lucy Gibson, a transportation engineer at Toole Design in Boston, Mass. 

Collective outcomes

In a one-hour overview, Gibson said that imagining the future of Route 41 will require “backcasting,” which gives communities the opportunity to create awareness and define what a successful corridor will bring to the area, the proper steps to assess the current state of the corridor and then possible equations that can determine desired outcomes. 

“It’s important to think about the overarching vision of what should happen on Route 41 and how it interacts with the surrounding communities,” Gibson said. “A vision-based transportation plan starts out with a clear statement that is aspirational and outlines the desired outcome for the corridor. The actions you take will get you to where you want to be. It captures collective outcomes – not just for one sector of the economy – but for everyone to meet their needs collectively.” 

Constructive vision for the future of Route 41, Gibson said, will require the need for key stakeholders and elected officials to create a singular plan that develops Route 41 as an easy access route to resident’s jobs, shopping needs and destinations, and folds each municipality’s distinct personality within the entire stretch of the corridor. 

Reflective of Gibson’s ideas, S.A.V.E. Executive Director George Hundt, Jr. said that a key mission of the Oct. 21 event was to have representatives from each of the five municipalities who connect with Route 41 form a consensus of cooperation and consolidate their issues and concerns about the highway so that they can be addressed by State Representatives John Lawrence and Christina Sappey – who were both in attendance - to Pennsylvania state officials and PennDOT representatives.

“What we’re hoping here is that those in attendance tonight will feed off of [Lucy’s] study, and it can then generate more ideas with many of those participants and take us to the next level, where we can really push some of those projects along,” Hundt, Jr. said.

From wish-list sentiments to an effective plan

If there is a true roadmap of the future of Route 41, it has been found within the pages of a report known as Landscapes3, created and updated by the Chester County Planning Commission. In its Transportation Improvement Inventory (TII) for 2025, the report contains current and potential projects from the county’s 73 municipalities that include roadway, bridge, bicycle and pedestrian, freight and transit projects that have been recommended to the Commission. 

It also spells out the importance of determining a vision for the corridor. Gibson quoted one passage of the 2025 Landcapes3 that aspires to achieve the following vision by 2045: “Chester County abounds with healthy natural areas, robust farms, cherished historic sites, diverse housing, thriving businesses, quality education, accessible transportation and vibrant communities for all.”

The keys to achieving that vision, Gibson said, will be to fold the articulation of wish-list sentiments into an effective plan. Some words pulled from a recent planning study for Route 41 included “connectivity,” “aesthetics,” “streetscaping,” “beautification,” “safety” and “identity.”

“We have a congested road,” she said. “Do we want to think about the roadway focus, or do we want to be grounded in values of community focus and the public good, and thinking more holistically about transportation? It’s about connecting you with places you go, not about enabling you to make round trips in your car.

“Why is [Route 41] congested?” Gibson asked. “It’s congested because there is excessive auto dependency in an area where there really aren’t a lot of options to get around, and that goes for how we have arranged our land uses and our transportation. The problem is that we’re all so dependent on our vehicles that we have to drive everywhere, [but] the transportation network [on Route 41] is not there.”

An integrated strategy

In the conclusion to her presentation, Gibson suggested that the planning for the future of Route 41 should revitalize small urban centers like Avondale; expand public transit, pedestrian and bicycle networks; promote effective partnerships between municipalities; shift preferences to meet the changing landscape of the county’s residents, who are creating new work environments and seeking more walkable communities; stimulate the economic growth of small centers by promoting their history; and develop street networks that provide a framework for multimodal access and infill development.

“An integrated strategy is what is needed - a vison of walkable centers with diverse housing and preservation of rural landscapes and agriculture, but there needs to be a focus on the quality of life in the centers to make them places where people want to live,” she said. “The Route 41 traffic needs to be tamed and managed so that it doesn’t detract from the vision. Vibrant communities are places where vehicular traffic provides access but does not dominate the setting.

“Route 41 is there to serve the communities, not the other way around,” she added. “The character of the street can affect how drivers behave and perceive their surroundings. A safer, calmer Route 41 is possible, but only if that is the primary goal for its redesign.”

The recent presentation was not Gibson’s – nor S.A.V.E.’s - first foray into the planning for Route 41. In 2002, she worked with S.A.V.E. on “A Two-Lane Alternative for Route 41,” which served to clarify the agency’s vision for the highway. In October 2021, the agency sponsored a presentation by roundabout expert Mark T. Johnson of the Madison, Wisconsin-based MTJ Roundabout Engineering. He laid out new roundabout concept designs at three points along Route 41 that included two roundabouts at the Route 41-Route 1 intersections in Avondale;  roundabouts at the corner of Sunny Dell Road and near the former Mr. Mulch, both in Landenberg; and two roundabouts at the Limestone Road (Route 7) – Route 41 interchange near the Delaware border.

The Oct. 21 meeting also featured brief presentations by Tim Stephenson, engineer and portfolio design manager with PennDOT, and Matt Edmond, the executive director of the Chester County Planning Commission.

To learn more about progress and plans for Route 41, visit PennDOT’s website at www.pa41.com.

To learn more about Landscapes3, visit the Chester County Planning Commission website at www.chescoplanning.org.

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