Conshohocken Appoints Firm for Traffic Study

Conshohocken Borough Council voted unanimously to appoint Pennoni Associates, of Philadelphia, to conduct a traffic study in the borough regarding riverfront development projects and their impact on traffic in the borough.

“Instead of each developer paying for their own traffic studies independent of one another, Conshohocken is asking them all to do one consolidated, coherent traffic study that takes into account what everybody is doing,” said Borough Council President Paul McConnell.

Developers planning to build along the riverfront include Don Pulver, who will build Seven Tower Bridge in Conshohocken, and Brian O'Neill, who owns undeveloped ground in Conshohocken and Whitemarsh.

Borough Solicitor Michael Savona said that appointing a traffic engineer would be beneficial to the borough.

“[Developers] are interested in a coordinated effort, along with the borough, to analyze the traffic impact of all of these proposals and to work with PennDOT and everybody with the same paperwork at the same time on what we expect the impact to be, what solutions will be possible, what the developers will pay for, and what the share would be for each developer,” Savona said.

The three options for engineers included Traffic Planning and Design, McMahon and Associates, and Pennoni. The board chose Pennoni after a lengthy discussion, due in part to the firm’s familiarity with the borough, and also because it the most independent of the developers.

“Maybe it’s a sign of the economy coming back, or how just wonderful Conshohocken is,” McConnell said at the council's February meeting. “We’ve had a number of developers very recently, as has Whitemarsh wanting, to develop on parcels – things that have been sat on for years upon years”