A recent traffic count conducted on behalf of Chadds Ford Township shows a modest increase in anticipated traffic through the intersection of Route 202 and Ridge Road.
According to township engineer Mike Schneider, the count performed this April shows an anticipated 5 percent increase compared to a study done in 2014 by the Pettinaro Co.
Schneider gave the information during a supervisors' workshop on May 31. He said the increase in the number of vehicles through the intersection during a single afternoon peak hour would be 248 by the year 2024. The total number of vehicles through the intersection in 2024 would be 5,208 in a peak afternoon hour.
"The increase is due primarily to additional area planned developments that were not known at the time of the original study," according to Schneider's report.
The Chadds Ford count studied intersections along Route 202 from Route 1 to Smithbridge Road and along Ridge from 202 to Ring Road and looked at eight future developments.
Schneider said the 5 percent increase is "not a jaw-dropping figure," but the 248 extra vehicles "is not insignificant."
He recommends future study.
"…[I]t's recommended that the township consider completing additional analyses, or requesting that the developer complete updated analyses to confirm the validity of the proposed roadway improvements associated with the Shops at Ridge Road."
His report also says any future study should include the updated list of proposed developments.
At issue is the currently vacant lot at Route 202 and Ridge Road across from Olde Ridge Village. Concord Township approved a commercial development — The Shops at Ridge Road — for the 20-acre site in 2008 and reaffirmed the approval in 2014. The property is in Concord Township, but it abuts Chadds Ford Township.
The approval includes a condition that Chadds Ford supervisors sign off on highway improvements planned along with the development, something Chadds Ford Supervisors' Chairman Frank Murphy has said he won't do until Chadds Ford residents' concerns are addressed.
Those highway improvements include placing the main entrance to the development on Ridge Road and widening Ridge to six lanes from its intersection with 202 to just beyond the property line. Township residents are concerned about safety and excess traffic.
Supervisors earlier this year authorized the traffic count to determine whether a count done by Pettinaro in 2014 was accurate based on new and proposed developments in the area.
The study, performed by Imperial Traffic & Data Collection, can be found here.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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