What’s the 422?

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is developing a “Master Plan” for the U.S. 422 corridor, and they’d like to hear from you.

“Open house” meetings will be held on Feb.17 at Oaks Elementary School and Feb. 18 at the West Campus of Montgomery County Community College in Pottstown. Both meetings will run from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Bert Cossaboon of McCormick Taylor, the DVRPC’s engineering firm, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the commission wants to “reel in” municipalities that are contributing to a “classic sprawl” development pattern along the highway.

“We’re not beating up on the municipalities. We just want to reel them in and get them to think a little bit differently – that the remaining open lands can either be preserved or developed more smartly,” Cossaboon told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

That “smarter” development encompasses ideas ranging from more pedestrian-friendly communities to mass transit projects, possibly including the revival, in some form, of the moribund Schuylkill Valley Metro project.

Where might the money to pay for these improvements come from? Tolls, according to Rob Henry, executive director of the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association, a non-profit partnership that aims to “promote the area’s orderly growth, sustain its quality of life and ensure its continued economic vitality.”

The full Inquirer story is available at philly.com.