Township removing trees, vines to improve ‘Radnor Gateway’
website, saying that work had begun on the Radnor Gateway Enhancement project.
The clearing involves removal of “invasive Norway maples, Ash that have succumb to emerald ash borer, dead trees, ailanthus, vines, and a few select tulip poplars that were being damaged by vines. At no time were native oaks, native maples or trees that benefit the urban structure removed. This project allows for more light to penetrate what was a dark and over grown woodlot that became penetrated with successional invasive species after the Blue Route was developed. It was intended to be open and free of vegetation at that time,” the website stated.
Meanwhile the Board of Commissioners began the Radnor Gateway Enhancement strategy in 1988 to create a pleasing visual entrance to the community. Most funding for the project is through the Radnor Enhancement Community Trust, a private, nonprofit charitable corporation.
Ward 2 Commissioner Richard Booker has long championed the Radnor Gateway Enhancement Project.
Asked to comment about this latest work, Booker said, “I have been a proponent of enhancing Radnor’s historical heritage, and appeal on the Main Line. I have advocated for, and saw to the rebuilding of Radnor’s Cairn at the I-476 exit, and understand that further enhancements to that Radnor icon will be undertaken, including new lighting. Otherwise, I am skeptical of the ongoing work in stripping the vegetation on the south side of Lancaster Ave., and its beneficial end result with respect to the Gateway work. My concept of the gateway enhancements in that area focuses on tying the pedestrian walkways along Lancaster from the Villanova Center, to the Wayne Business overlay district in central Wayne. It remains unclear to me, how the ongoing work furthers that goal, at present.”