By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer
The radio traffic reports said it all — or almost all of it, at least.
The intersection of Bustleton Avenue and Byberry Road is an absolute mess because of police activity surrounding a demonstration. Traffic on Bustleton Avenue can’t get to Evans Street, Woodhaven Road or Roosevelt Boulevard.
Members of the Somerton Civic Association, the Greater Bustleton Civic League and other area community groups blocked four local intersections on Monday morning in a show of support for the proposed extension of Woodhaven Road into Montgomery County.
The residents forced the closure of Hendrix Street, Byberry Road, Trevose Road and Poquessing Street, all at Bustleton Avenue.
Although Bustleton Avenue remained open to traffic at those four locations, the ripple effects of the blockages were felt miles away as drivers flooded other arteries — including Philmont Avenue, Red Lion Road and Street Road, as well as many side streets and private drives — trying to find alternate routes.
Meanwhile, Woodhaven Road opponents mounted counter-demonstrations at some locations, including Bustleton and Byberry, as well as Philmont and Byberry. Philadelphia and suburban police supervised the demonstrations and rerouted traffic at several locations to accommodate the blocked roads.
Somerton Civic president Mary Jane Hazell vowed that Monday’s traffic fiasco, which lasted about 90 minutes, was the first of many allowing residents to draw attention to daily traffic woes in their community.
They think that the Woodhaven Road Extension would help reduce the volume of traffic on residential neighborhood streets, particularly Byberry Road.
“We’ll do it as long as is necessary,” Hazell said from her post at Bustleton and Trevose avenues. “If we inconvenience the suburbs enough, they’re going to start screaming to do something and build (Woodhaven Road). If you look at these cars, they’re not from Philadelphia, and it’s not fair that we have to take their traffic every day.”
Hazell noted that most of the cars passing her intersection did not have the large yellow vehicle registration stickers in their rear windows that are issued to Philadelphia residents. Motorists outside the city use standard license plate stickers.
“They’re going to be angry,” Hazell said. “They’re allowed to be angry. I’d be angry, too.”
State Rep. George Kenney (R-170th dist.) and City Councilman Brian O’Neill (R-10th dist.) joined Hazell at the Trevose Avenue location, along with staff members from the office of state Sen. Mike Stack (D-5th dist.).
While some motorists screamed at the protesters and others expressed their displeasure with hand gestures, others politely asked what all the fuss was about.
“There has been at least a dozen cars stop and ask (why we’re demonstrating),” said Rich Grutzmacher, a 28-year Somerton resident. “And when we’ve told them, they agreed with us.”
For decades, excessive traffic and apparent inaction by government agencies on the Woodhaven Road project have angered many Somerton residents.
“We’re tired of all this heavy traffic. We want them to do something,” said Jim Desher, 72, who lives in the Fraternal Order of Police Home on the 700 block of Byberry Road. “You can’t get out of your driveway, and PennDOT, I think, is dragging their feet. They’ve got to relieve traffic on Byberry Road one way or another.”
The traffic poses a serious safety hazard to the residents of his senior citizen complex, many of whom walk to local stores and other public buildings, Desher explained.
“The main thing is going to church at St. Christopher’s,” he said. “To get across the road, nobody gives you a break. And for the ones that drive, trying to get out of our driveway, you can’t get out.”
They feel that opening up a new road — extending the existing Woodhaven Expressway from Evans Street along state-owned land to Philmont Avenue — is the solution.
The road would be four lanes from Evans to Bustleton Avenue, then shrink to two lanes west of Bustleton Avenue.
“They have this land here that’s open to go through,” said Bob Nelms, 65, of Somerton. “They don’t need a superhighway. They just need an access street, just to go through. They could keep the speed limit down so they don’t have to have sound barriers.”
Another Somerton resident, Bill Goepfrich, 76, remembers the havoc caused by the state in the mid-1970s when it acquired the land for the existing right-of-way by kicking more than 30 families out of their homes. Goepfrich knew one of the families.
“I remember years ago when they condemned their house on Stevens Road,” Goepfrich said. “(The father) was very active in the Somerton Youth Organization and they said they had to leave.”
Jim Weldon, president of the Citizens Alliance of Westwood and leader of the counter-protest, thinks the Woodhaven Road project could force out even more local homeowners and businesses. All four existing PennDOT proposals would include residential and commercial “acquisitions.”
“We’re just here trying to show the people that not everybody is for Woodhaven Road,” Weldon said. “We’re just here to let people know that (Hazell’s group) isn’t the only group that speaks for Somerton.”
Westwood is a division of Somerton bordering the proposed Woodhaven Extension west of Bustleton Avenue.
The Somerton Civic Association, though a supporter of the Woodhaven Extension, is opposed to additional property acquisitions by the state. Weldon said that PennDOT ruled out such a plan in its Draft Environmental Impact Statement released last month.
“It’s dismissed. That plan is in the DEIS and it was dismissed because it won’t work,” Weldon said.
PennDOT will hold a two-part hearing next week to take public testimony on the DEIS and the Woodhaven project. The first session will be on Tuesday from 2 to 10 p.m. at the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory, Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road. The second session will be two days later, also from 2 to 10 p.m., at Lower Moreland High School.
Interestingly, Weldon’s group may have gotten its point of view known to passing motorists better than Hazell’s. Though greatly outnumbered along Bustleton Avenue, the counter-demonstrators held signs and passed out fliers. The Woodhaven Extension advocates had no signs or fliers.
Weldon acknowledged that many motorists might have mistaken the Woodhaven advocates for being part of his group.
Nelms promised that the pro-Woodhaven people would have signs next time around.
“We will. This is the first time, so it’s just a loggerhead right now because you have so many groups getting together,” Nelms said.
Among those involved in the main demonstration, according to Hazell, were residents of Normandy and Parkwood, in addition to those from Somerton and Bustleton.
During the demonstration, police documented one fender-bender. It occurred on eastbound Byberry Road when one vehicle rear-ended another, after the second car had stopped at Bustleton. The crash occurred in the area where members of the anti-Woodhaven faction were handing out fliers to stopped motorists.
No injuries were reported.
Capt. Al Martin, commander of the 7th Police District, said that crashes are common at Bustleton and Byberry.
“This is probably one of the most highly traveled intersections in the city,” Martin said. “I’d say it’s in the top three. The population in the suburbs has quadrupled in the last two censuses. And people from the suburbs use Bustleton Avenue as a main artery to the city.
“This is a high-volume and accident intersection.”
The demonstrations not only strained traffic flow, they also strained police resources, according to the captain. Along Bustleton Avenue, members of the civil affairs and traffic units teamed with 7th district officers.
“We’ve got to have a police presence because we can’t get anybody hurt,” Martin said. “They have a right to protest. We want to make sure it’s done safely. A lot of people are being inconvenienced.”
If Hazell has her way, it will happen again very soon.
“This is just the beginning,” she promised. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com