The new year kicked off with more of the same for those who live along New Elm Street in Conshohocken (Plymouth Township). On January 2nd, a vehicle struck a pole near a home along the roadway. This latest incident follows vehciles striking a home, fence and pedestrian over the past two years.

For years, residents in this area have asked most notably for a stop sign at Light Street and at least one sidewalk along the mostly residential street. Thus far it hasn’t happened.

PennDOT claims that the intersection with Light Street doesn’t warrant a stop sign, but has stated that there is a plan for a crosswalk with overhead signs announcing the intersection. It is a PennDOT issue due to it being a state road.

Plymouth Township officials point to a sidewalk in the area being difficult to create due I-476 crossing through the area, limited space along the roadway, the slope on western side of the street near the steel mill, and existing roadside parking.

To combat speeding and agressive driving along the corridor, police from Conshohocken and Plymouth Township increased their presence in the area.

Over the past year, MoreThanTheCurve.com has pointed to two possible solutions. Norristown was able to convince PennDOT to install speed humps along a portion of Dekalb Street.

The second is that the Borough of Conshohocken and Plymouth Township seek ownership of the road from PennDOT (which we learned is possible after an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer about Philadelphia considering seeking ownership of a portion of Market Street).

After publishing the article about municipalities seeking ownership of state roads, a reader pointed us to the PennDOT Highway Transfer Turnback Program. The program “allows the transfer of functionally-local state-owned roads, serving a local traffic purpose, from state government to local government ownership. Roads that are candidates for transfer are those that have low average daily traffic, or would benefit the municipality both socially and economically.” PennDOT even pays for the future upkeep.

The wave of development in the Borough of Conshohocken has brought additional traffic to the West Elm to New Elm Street to Conshohocken Road corridor. The amount of traffic is only going to continue to grow and in 2030 there will be the addition of ramps for the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the far end of Conshohocken Road at Ridge Pike.

Photo: Provided by a reader