Mister Tredyffrin and Friends

It has taken me a bit of time to digest the last Board of Supervisor’s meeting. There was just so. much. to. digest.

Oh, and so much to comment on, I’ll have to pick my favorite. That would be the motion and subsequent vote on the Upper Gulph Rd/Conestoga Rd intersection fiasco.

For those of you who do not know, back in 2006 the BOS voted to approve the plan for a new park in Strafford, called Westover Park.

Westover Park is turning out to be very expensive.

When the plans for the park were first announced, I (silly little average Tredyffrin resident) immediately thought, hmmm, what a strange place for the entrance to a park, next to one of the worst intersections in the entire Township! If I had been sitting on that Board for the vote, I would have voted it down. I would have voted it down because it was clear to me at the time that we had no business putting an entrance to a park at such a dangerous intersection. And that the only way to accommodate a park entrance there would require serious, expensive, changes. Is this park really worth all that money? Especially since we have put so much money into Wilson Farm Park, just a short drive down the road?

But, the park was passed.

At some point, someone must have realized, now that the Township is going forward with the park, something needed to be done about that intersection.

So, the powers that be created five (expensive) options to deal with the intersection.

Let’s take a look at two of these options for a minute.

Option 1, T Intersection, Realign Upper Gulph Road to require a stop at its intersection with Conestoga Road. East bound Conestoga Road will also have a stop. All traffic flowing through this intersection will have to adhere to the stop signs.

This option allows for a complete halt of traffic, and sidewalks. It also, it appears, will require some confiscation of resident’s land. But, this is a park we are talking about! I’m sure those Tredyffrin residents will be happy to give up their land.

Option #5, Single Lane Roundabout, Realign Conestoga Road and Upper Gulph Road, with a landscaped island in the middle; no stop signs - instead traffic would yield in all directions to traffic in the roundabout.

Have you ever been through a roundabout? If not, reserve your opinion about them until you have been in one. Then, if you get the chance to drive through one, ask yourself if you’d like your child to attempt to access a park with a roundabout right in front of the entrance.

I list these two only, because these are the options that were so attractive to our Supervisors. Two of them seem to think roundabouts are Tredyffrin’s future.

Ultimately a motion was made to move forward with Option 1, and the motion was passed (even though the final price tag of Option 1 has not been determined yet, I might add). I am happy the Board realized how necessary it was to stop traffic completely if they are intent on going forward with the park. It would simply be too dangerous for any child to attempt to walk to that park barring the complete halting of traffic. I agree with and applaud the majority of the Board for voting for this option. I’m particularly happy that the roundabout option was defeated.

However, it should never have come to be in the first place. I listened with interest as one Supervisor remarked that if he had realized the intersection would have to be re-aligned, along with the resulting expense, he never would have voted for the park in the first place. I just have to ask - didn’t he even drive by the park location when it was up for a vote? If so he clearly would have recognized the need for major changes.

What I can’t explain is how another Supervisor could not have plainly seen the need for an expensive intersection re-alignment right from the start, considering he lives a stone’s throw away from it.

I don’t know the full price tag of Westover Park and the intersection re-alignment (no one does). I do know it will be expensive. I also know that this entire episode is a startling example of the fiscal-un-conservativeness of our current Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors.