stad en land

Ik ben het helemaal eens met het hoofdredactioneel commentaar van 20 juli 2011 in Town & Country (news from the Upper Perkiomen Valley and Nearby Regions of Berks, Bucks, and Lehigh Counties):

For the past few years, residents and travelers of Upper Salford Township bore the brunt of most of the bridge construction work in our readership area, and the resulting headaches from the detours that accompanied the work. The bridge pains are now moving into Upper Hanover Township as well.

As of yesterday, the bridge over the Perkiomen Creek on Palm Hill Road closed for some badly needed repairs. Officials expect that bridge to be closed until sometime in November.

While the weight limit of most emergency vehicles traveling from the south will not allow them to cross over the Perkiomen at the bridge on Peevy Road to get to the Palm Hill area, it’s only a short ride from Palm Hill Road to Tollgate Road then onto Lesher Mill Road to backtrack to the west side of the creek.

Next week the bridge over the Macoby Creek on East Buck Road will close down until sometime in October. Detours will be in place by then but you can bet that unsuspecting motorists who use Geryville Pike and East Buck Road to bypass the intersection of Routes 29, 663 and Fourth Street in Pennsburg, will ignore the warnings and stop only when they see the missing span. They will then find that shortcut to be a little longer when they’re forced to travel south on Frye Road and west on James Road in order to head back to Route 29.

Hopefully these drivers who commit the folly of ignoring the detour will have the common sense to drive safely before they become a nuisance to the residents of Frye Road or a danger to those attending St. Paul’s Church or Upper Perk Childcare Center.

The real headache for Upper Hanover Township travelers could come next year if PennDOT, as they proposed, closes two Gravel Pike (Route 29) bridges at the same time in order to replace and repair the spans over the Hosensack and a tributary of the Perkiomen Creek.

Crossing over a tributary of the Perkiomen Creek, the northernmost bridge on Gravel Pike in Upper Hanover Township is located between Station Road and Stauffer Road. Situated just a half mile to the south of Station Road is the bridge over the Hosensack Creek on Gravel Pike.

Closing both bridges at the same time would cutoff traffic at Water Street to the south and Tollgate Road to the north, all but isolating the village of Palm. Alternate routes in that scenario are not only cumbersome and inconvenient but add distance and time to getting in and out of the small village.

This newspaper supports the efforts by Upper Hanover Township officials and neighboring municipal leaders to keep both bridges from closing completely at the same time.

Commerce, convenience, and most of all, safety, will be the victims if PennDOT fails to consider the request of local officials. Detours will force emergency vehicles several miles out of their normal route of travel. Low overhead railroad bridges, one-lane roads and spans limited by vehicle weight will challenge the navigational software of even the best GPS unit.

Yes, it will probably add more time to the construction schedule and increase costs for the project, but what price can you put on the ability of an emergency vehicle to reach those in need in a timely yet safe manner.

En ik wil niet eens weten waar Upper Salford ligt of de Hosensack Creek.