U.S. 202, Section 100 is located between the Delaware State Line in Delaware County (Bethel, Concord, Chadds Ford, and Thornbury townships) and Matlack Street in Chester County (West Goshen, Westtown, Thornbury, and Birmingham townships). This eight-mile section of U.S. 202 is a four-lane, signalized arterial highway. Over the past 20 years, the corridor has developed to a point where traffic congestion occurs throughout the corridor, most noticeably at a number of intersections including Matlack Street, PA 926, U.S. 1 and Naamans Creek Road.

 

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) completed a re-evaluaton of a proposed plan to widen U.S. 202 from four lanes to six lanes, which was developed in a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The purpose of the reevaluation was to determine if the needs of the corridor could be met through lower-cost alternatives. In this effort, PennDOT updated the corridor’s comprehensive traffic study (which included traffic counts of every intersection); analyzed crash information; and developed a traffic simulation model. This traffic simulation model allowed the project team to evaluate a number of lower-cost, corridor-wide improvement options including widening U.S. 202 to six lanes in specific locations; reducing the scope of widening in certain areas with the use of concrete curb instead of paved shoulders; and developing improvement options with and without grade-separated interchanges at U.S. 1, PA 926, and Matlack Street.PennDOT is taking a realistic and practical approach to implementing a corridor-wide solution due to funding constraints and is applying Smart Transportation principles to this section of U.S. 202 to receive the most value for its financial investment. This approach may lead to a re-scoping of the environmental studies from an Environmental Impact Statement to individual Categorical Exclusions, subject to the approval of federal, state, and local transportation and environmental agencies. PennDOT is working with Delaware and Chester counties to develop a long-term implementation plan so smaller, easier-to-fund projects can be identified and moved quickly through the project development process, with the ultimate goal of getting these projects on the region’s Transportation Improvement Program.

 

PennDOT worked with Delaware and Chester counties, local municipalities, transportation management associations and other key stakeholders to develop a long-range plan to implement smaller, easier-to-fund projects that could be identified and moved through the project development process and placed on the region’s fiscally-constrained Transportation Improvement Program. The plan also identified opportunities to improve travel for pedestrians, motorists, bicyclists, and transit riders.

 

Of the projects identified, two were prioritized to meet the corridor’s short-term transportation needs: 1) Completing the Loop Roads at the intersection of U.S. 202 and U.S. 1, and 2) Improving the intersection of U.S. 202 and PA 926. The two projects are consistent with the community’s goals and objectives, and they address quality of life concerns, fiscal constraints, and other social/environmental criteria.

 

PennDOT is taking a realistic and practical approach to implementing a corridor-wide solution along U.S. 202 due to funding constraints. It is applying Smart Transportation principles to receive the most value for its financial investment. This approach identified the first two intersection improvements and rescoped the environmental studies so they are more appropriate for the new level of improvements under consideration. The studies are subject to the approval of federal, state, and local transportation, and environmental agencies.

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