While the Lafayette Street Project is mainly an effort to provide easier access to Norristown’s riverfront and downtown, it does provide a benefit to other area residents and businesses.

The wider benefit is through the addition of a full interchange on and off the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Ridge Pike and where the intersection of Conshohocken Road historically existed (basically close to the new Wawa on Ridge Pike).

Thus far the Lafayette Street Project has completed its first two phases and the third is under construction. The phases are:

1. Extend Lafayette Street beyond Ford Street to Conshohocken Road and Diamond Avenue
2. Section MGL – Widen and improve local roads, such as Ridge Pike, Diamond Avenue, and Fairfield Road
3. Section MGN – Reconstruct and widen existing Lafayette Street, as well as relocate the Schuylkill River Trail

Once the third phase is completed, the project will move into Phase 4, which will be the construction of the Turnpike interchange. According to Matthew Edmond,  section chief – transportation of the Montgomery County Planning Commission, the Turnpike interchange will be built after the Turnpike introduces cashless tolling  across the entire system by early-to-mid-2020’s.