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Source: The Phoenix Reporter by Evan Brandt
Chester County is one of only two in all of Pennsylvania where population is growing. And while that's good news on the economy side, it can also make it hard to find affordable housing to take advantage of that economy.
That is why U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-6th Dist., held a roundtable on affordable housing and transportation on Thursday, January 23rd, and our very own Rob Henry, GVF’s executive director, was asked to participate as a TDM expert.
The best-known connections between those towns is Route 422, which "carries 100,000 vehicles a day, not terribly successfully in my opinion," said Congresswoman Houlahan.
And that car-dependent "sprawl growth is continuing on up into Berks County" said Rob Henry, executive director of GVF. In addition to traffic jams, dependence on automobiles is also reducing air quality.
"Transportation is now the number one source of emissions," Henry said. "People are commuting well over an hour and it impacts their quality-of-life, their work performance”. It's good policy to connect housing and transportation, said Henry, given that the next generation seems less taken with automobiles than their parents. "Less than 50 percent of millennials have a driver's license and we should take those preferences into account when we make transportation improvements."
Above were snips from the article Roundtable looks at affordable housing, transit in Chester County by Evan Brandt ebrandt@21st-centurymedia.com with The Phoenix Reporter (just double check that from the article link). To read the full article from Congresswoman Houlahan’s roundtable discussion, click here.
We cannot continue to build our way out of this problem of congestion. With 30 years of TDM expertise, GVF is a valuable resource for communities as they need to think about building/planning for the future. For information on TDM and interest in learning more about GVF, contact Maureen Farrell, Deputy Executive Director.