Towamencin Traffic Engineer Says New Lane Stripes Only a Temporary Fix for Turnpike Traffic

Dan Sokil | The Reporter•

New lane striping on a slipramp in Towamencin is just one fix that township officials are considering for traffic problems.

Traffic engineer Chad Dixson gave an update on several traffic-related projects around the township, including the reopening of a restriped ramp heading from Sumneytown Pike to the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

"That’ll finally be competed, and then PennDOT will start to evaluate the more long-term solutions at the intersection,” said Dixson.

On July 31, PennDOT closed the slipramp leading from eastbound Sumneytown to the southbound turnpike, after lengthy talks on heavy traffic stacking seen in that area, and ways the township and state could change the intersection to alleviate it. The slipramp was installed as part of the roughly $200 million widening of the Northeast Extension, including new direct-access EZ-pass lanes between the turnpike itself and Sumneytown Pike and Towamencin Avenue, and the ramp and two others on opposite sides of the interchange opened as the project neared its conclusion in 2017.

Since the widened turnpike and new slipramps opened, township officials and residents have seen heavy traffic backups on Sumneytown at Old Forty Foot Road, where the slipramp channels traffic directly to the turnpike via one left turn lane, which causes traffic backups during rush hours, and in 2018-19 the township and its traffic engineer secured modifications to the traffic signal at Sumneytown and the interchange itself, meant to let drivers bypass the slipramp and access the interchange at the original toll plaza.

The township’s traffic engineer has continued to push PennDOT for further changes, and in January the engineer reported that PennDOT had identified plans to change the slipramp entry from one left-turn lane to two left-turn lanes, with that work starting in early August once the ramp was closed and originally slated to reopen on Oct. 7, before the weather delay.

During the township supervisors meeting October 11, Dixson said he’d been notified that the final pavement markings would be done that evening, with the goal of having the slipramp back open the next day, and vows from PennDOT to keep monitoring traffic there.

"They’ve committed to Towamencin and Lower Salford townships to complete some further studies of the corridor, to evaluate what the best and most feasible solution is,” he said.

In late September the township’s supervisors approved funds for drone overflights of the interchange both before and after the ramp reopened, to show the traffic flow with and without it open, and Dixson said the last of those flights will likely happen "in a couple of weeks” once traffic flow stabilizes. In the long term, the traffic engineer told the board, PennDOT has indicated that their fix would include lengthening the two left turn lanes farther west on Sumneytown, to allow more space for traffic stacking before the intersection.

"One other possible item that’s been brought up, that has raised concerns with Towamencin and Lower Salford, is the potential closing of Mainland Road. These are all things that are going to be evaluated, with these further traffic studies, after the ramp reopens,” Dixson said.

"At our request, they’re going to go out and do all new traffic counts, in order to update their traffic studies,” he said.

Township supervisor Rich Marino said he thought the current traffic backups were a sign that the road capacity is "inadequate to meet the needs of what we have” in terms of traffic volume, and the problems could only increase when the long-discussed Route 309 connector project linking the Northeast Extension with 309 in adjacent Hatfield Township is complete.

"We have said to PennDOT, we’ve said to the Turnpike Commission, we consider that to be totally inadequate. It was inadequate to begin with, it’s still inadequate, and that’s why we’re doing the drone flights, to give our local representatives and traffic engineers the tools they need to make our case to the state that this is not adequate,” he said.

"The people who decide this are in Harrisburg. They don’t live here. This is going to be decided by bureaucrats who are not here. It’s their money, they’re going to make the decision. What we’re trying to do is arm ourselves with enough facts to prove that what we have out there, is not up to the task for which it was designed,” Marino said.

As for the 309 connector itself, Dixson gave updates on two parts of the project, the second phase currently under construction between Allentown Road and Hatfield-Souderton Pike, and the third phase being planned farther north to 309. Phase two construction has recently been completed from Allentown Road to Elroy Road, and north of Elroy construction will continue "over the next couple years” on noise walls and road paving up to Hatfield-Souderton Pike.

"Originally, (PennDOT) projected that they would be substantially complete with phase two in October of 2025. Last week, they indicated that they are ahead of schedule. They wouldn’t indicate yet how far ahead of schedule they are, but they seemed very pleased with the progress that they’ve made,” Dixson said.

The next phase, from Allentown Road to 309 itself, has also seen recent progress.

"PennDOT initiated the final design after they received environmental clearance in June of this year. They just, very recently, in September, went into agreement with a right-of-way acquisition firm, to initiate the right-of-way acquisition and temporary construction easement acquisition that would be required for phase three,” Dixson said.

Those property acquisitions are projected to take through the end of 2025, and a tentative project timeline would have the project put out for bids in late 2026, and a potential start date in spring 2027.

"Right now they estimate that the duration of construction for phase three could be in the neighborhood of three years, in total,” Dixson said.

Back in Towamencin, one road project has been largely stalled lately: PennDOT has granted a time extension on grant funds for a new traffic signal at Forty Foot Road and Newbury Way, but that signal can’t be installed until traffic counts promised by developer PSDC as part of their redevelopment of a nearby shopping center meet PennDOT requirements.

"The project moving forward now is dependent on the PSDC mixed-use development on Forty Foot Road, and them being able to demonstrate that they meet the traffic signal warrants required by PennDOT,” Dixson said. "We remain in close coordination with them, to help move that process along.”

One other project has seen recent developments: the planned widening of the intersection of Welsh and Orvilla Roads, where the engineer has developed plans to add a new travel lane on the south side of Welsh and create four-way left turn lanes on all sides of the intersection. Infiltration testing was done this summer and talks are still ongoing with the property owners whose rights-of-way will be needed, the engineer told the board, and project maps may be refined as those properties are acquired.

"We continue to coordinate with them through the project, and we’ll probably have some small updates to this map as we move through the design over the coming months,” Dixson said.

During public comments, resident Bruce Bailey questioned the cost of the drone flights, and the effectiveness of PennDOT’s fixes.

"I agree, the traffic on Sumneytown Pike flows much better with that ramp closed. I go through there several times a week, different hours of the day,” he said. "I completely understand the logic, but I don’t want to spend my tax money, on that particular item, at this particular time. I’d rather have the $1,500 in the bank for other expenses.”

Board Chairman Chuck Wilson answered that while the cost for the drone flights would be borne by the township, the roadway itself is under the state’s control, and the drone info could be used to seek the future fixes.

"What you see there is a fix we hope works for a while, and we have another fix on the horizon. That’s going to give us some information, to make our case to PennDOT, to continue to push for a solution,” he said.

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.

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