Steps Toward Improved Infrastructure

We've seen enough construction signs to believe that orange is the state's official color. But all the construction leads to something, or at least we hope so.

The Route 202 Parkway, an idea spawned the year that Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater waged battle for the White House, is finally near completion. Early this month, towns along the new expressway held an open house of sorts, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to check out PennDOT's handiwork. The reviews are mixed, of course, since the project had its share of proponents and detractors. The original plan, though, showed a lot of vision; back in the 1960s, the Route 202 corridor was not the dense suburban sprawl of today.

Despite its opponents, despite its quaint 40 mph speed limit, the parkway will be a welcome reprieve for suburban commuters and within months, many will wonder how they ever managed without it.

On the other side of the suburbs, we await the long-touted I-95 connector to the Pennsylvania turnpike. Prerequisite projects are completed or underway, but the real "guts" of the project aren't slated until next year and it won't be completed until 2017. Bucks County commissioner Robert Loughery wrote a column for our first issue touting the connector as vital to the area's economic growth.