Montgomery County, PA

 

UPPER GWYNEDD — The Montgomery County Commissioners presented Upper Gwynedd with a check for $4.3 million Monday to widen and reconstruct Sumneytown Pike, eliminating a two-lane bottleneck that backs traffic up for miles during rush hour.

 

This is one of four Jump Start projects the County Commissioners will undertake this year. The purpose is to demonstrate traffic improvements projects that would include in a new $150 million program that will be brought to voters in a referendum in November.

 

After the much-publicized collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis two years ago, the state and federal governments have clearly indicated that all of their transportation dollars for the foreseeable future will be used to fix existing roads and bridges that are wearing out.

 

“We’re still feeling the reverberations of that disaster,” Commissioners Chairman James R. Matthews said. “Montgomery County and its municipalities are going to have to get together and fix some of our own problems.”

 

The township and Merck & Co., Inc. will match the County’s grant with $3.2 million for the project, which involves replacing a rail bridge that causes the bottleneck. It will also widen the road to two lanes in each direction with a turn-lane in the middle from Merck to the border of North Wales.

 

The township plans to begin construction in spring of this year.

 

 

Pictured, left to right: Montgomery County Commissioner Joseph M. Hoeffel, Merck Director of Public Affairs Connie Wickersham, Upper Gwynedd Township Commissioner President James A. Santi, Montgomery County Commissioners Chairman James R. Matthews, Greg Landis, Director of Site Facilities Engineering for Merck and Fran Cashes, Director of Upper Gwynedd Site Services for Merck.