Study being done for possible Beck Road truck ban
FRANCONIA >> The ripples keep moving out.
Truck bans on streets in Towamencin and Hatfield led to complaints about increased truck traffic on Mininger Road in Franconia. That led to a truck ban being added earlier this year for Mininger Road.
Now a study that could lead to prohibiting trucks on Beck Road has been started, Doug Rossino, Franconia’s township engineer, said at the July 15 Franconia Township Board of Supervisors meeting.
“A lot of the trucks appear to be wanting to go down Beck since they can’t go down Mininger,” Rossino said.
The Beck Road study is similar to one done on Mininger Road prior to the truck ban being put into effect there, he said.
“We’re doing a study to see the feasibility of Beck Road to carry the current volume of truck traffic that it has now, based on its construction,” board Chairman Grey Godshall said following the meeting.
The results will then be forwarded to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for its decision on whether trucks should be banned on Beck Road, he said.
Township officials have previously said a comprehensive solution is needed, rather than just pushing
the trucks to other roads, and have been long-time advocates for completion of the planned connector between Route 309 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Kulpsville interchange. The first phase of that connector, the only part completed thus far, runs between Sumneytown Pike and Allentown Road. Mininger
Road and Beck Road each take traffic from Allentown Road to Cowpath Road. The second phase of the Route 309 connector is planned to be south of Mininger Road and extend the connector from Allentown Road to Souderton-Hatfield Pike. A later third phase would then complete the connector.
In other matters at the July 15 meeting:
• The board approved payment of $1,007,527.57 of bills.
“Before anyone has a heart
attack, I’ll identify a few of the largest checks,” board member Robert Nice said.
The over $1 million of payments is a larger amount than usual. For instance, the payments approved at the board’s June meeting totaled $394,656.41.
The largest of the July payments was $465,000 for interest and principal payments on money borrowed by the township for open space land preservation, Nice said. Another $146,000 was for another township loan, he said.