Contentious views of
Woodhaven Road plan continue

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

While the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has been busy trying to coordinate a new series of meetings to discuss with local residents the latest plans for extending Woodhaven Road, opponents of construction have kept busy, too.
In recent days, new pages of analysis, argument and rhetoric have been added to an anti-Woodhaven project Web site operated by a Huntingdon Valley-based residents group. On the site, the Tri-County Coalition accuses PennDOT of using deceptive tactics to "sell residents on dubious benefits of highway expansion" and of misrepresenting its "real commitment" to diverting truck traffic through residential communities.
PennDOT’s latest Community Connections plan was to debut locally during a Feb. 28 gathering of Somerton businesses at MaST Community Charter School. But the state agency and its engineering consultant on the project, McCormick Taylor, cancelled the meeting early last week, citing scheduling conflicts among participating businesses.
However, residents gatherings scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday of this week, as well as March 11 and 12, were and are expected to go on as planned.
John Mullen, project coordinator for McCormick Taylor, last week described the four sessions as neighborhood workshops intended for residents of the immediate project area. Project officials sent out invitations to residents of Byberry Road for the March 4 and 6 sessions, and to residents of Somerton’s Westwood section for the March 11 and 12 sessions.
Mullen said that the four gatherings are not formal "public meetings," although he acknowledged that uninvited residents could not be banned from the sessions.
All four meetings were scheduled to start at 6 p.m. The Ephraim Goldstein Apartments, 12003 Byberry Road, were to host the March 4 and 6 sessions. The March 11 and 12 meetings are to be held at St. Andrews in the Field Church, 500 Somerton Ave.
Mullen said that the intent of the meetings is to gather site-specific information and recommendations from those who know the area best, the people who live there.
The conceptual project plan calls for a two-lane parkway-style road to begin at the existing Woodhaven Road terminus near Evans Street and continue west, crossing the CSX railroad on a newly configured bridge. The road would connect directly with cross streets, intersecting Bustleton Avenue and ending near Audubon Avenue.
The road would follow a right-of-way already owned by the state and be entirely within Philadelphia. Its primary purposes would be to relieve traffic congestion and improve safety on Byberry Road.
Mullen said that local residents will have the option to recommend things like green strips, trees and foliage, split-rail fencing, walking paths, park benches and public transportation shelters.
"These are components we want to throw out to the community," he said.
Project officials will compile the recommendations, form a more-detailed plan and then schedule a formal public hearing on the plan.
Sight unseen, at least some folks already want no part of the new road.
The Tri-County Coalition claims to represent residents of Lower Moreland and Bryn Athyn in eastern Montgomery County, Southampton in Bucks County and the Westwood section. On its Web site, stopwoodhavenroad.com, the group accuses PennDOT of using "slick marketing" to promote the "dubious benefits of highway expansion" to residents.
In the last week, the site has warned of PennDOT’s "despicable intentions" to build a new truck route through residential neighborhoods and to build a "highway starter-kit that would set the stage for additional road widening and new road construction."
On the site, the group uses maps from previous PennDOT proposals, minutes from prior private meetings between PennDOT and area residents, dated Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission documents and quotes from newspaper articles to accuse the state agency and its agents of underhanded tactics.
The president of the Citizens Alliance of Westwood, the Philadelphia arm of the Tri-County Coalition, did not return telephone calls requesting comment.
Mary Jane Hazell, president of the Somerton Civic Association, which has endorsed extending Woodhaven Road in the past, adopted a wait-and-see approach in advance of this week’s neighborhood workshops.
"I’m going to go to those meetings and I’m going to go with an open mind," Hazell said.
She believes that residents of Somerton should determine the future of the project as the latest plan is contained entirely within the neighborhood.
Prior plans extended the road beyond city limits and drew ire from suburban residents, who feared an influx of vehicle and truck traffic.
"It’s strictly a Philadelphia project. They’re not going to go into Montgomery County at all," Hazell said.
"So how can they tell us what to do with our streets? It’s fine if the people from Westwood want to do it, but the people from Montgomery County should have no say on a Philadelphia street." ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com