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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep. Michael Gerber |
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Gerber delivers grant to Whitpain to help reduce truck traffic
WHITPAIN, April 15 – State Rep. Mike Gerber, D-Montgomery, yesterday visited the Whitpain Township Supervisors’ meeting to present $13,025 for a transportation study of 22 miles of the township's roads.
"As a Whitpain resident, I have witnessed the increase in traffic -- truck traffic in particular -- over the last several years," Gerber said. "My hope is that this grant and the study it is funding will help protect the tranquility and safety of our family neighborhoods."
Gerber secured state funding so the township can study roughly 22 miles of roads that experience heavy truck traffic. According to Gerber, the increase in traffic is due in part to overdevelopment but also to simple geography -- Whitpain is located near major roadways and arteries such as the turnpike and the Blue Route. The study will review road size, weight capacity and proximity to residential neighborhoods among other factors to determine which roadways should be off-limits to trucks.
"I have worked hard to reduce traffic flow all over my legislative district by securing open space grants, encouraging municipalities to better manage their growth, improving intersections and funding mass transit, but we also have to be smart about how we direct traffic flow and that is the purpose of this study," Gerber explained. "We must have a plan to keep commercial transport where it belongs -- on the highways and major arteries and out of our residential communities."
The township informed Gerber the study should only take about two months to complete before the engineers performing the study make a final set of recommendations to the township.
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