End in sight to Rte. 422 traffic jams?

The 20-year quest to improve commutes in the Route 422 corridor received high-profile exposure yesterday when U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Sen. Arlen Specter came to Norristown to learn about the often-jammed artery in Montgomery County.

Long-discussed plans to improve, and possibly toll, the 25-mile road and extend SEPTA's Norristown line to Reading require large-scale government money, and neither LaHood nor Specter promised yesterday that cash would immediately flow.

But Specter said he foresaw a strong chance for 422 funding in a 2010 highway bill that is expected to contain more than $500 billion for roads nationally.

"The whole development of the area hinges on this," Specter said.

LaHood said Pennsylvania's success at turning stimulus funds into working projects had positioned the state near the head of the line for the next round of outlays.

"You're doing the right things," LaHood said. "We'll be there to help you along the way."

A consultant's study of options for the corridor is expected to be finished by early 2011, which could lead to projects being green-lighted that year. Among the ideas on the table is tolling Route 422 to help pay for the extended train line, which Specter said would be local officials' decision. The work's scope, price and date have not been set.

Yesterday's high-level audience counts as progress in the long slog to replace the eight-mile traffic jams near Montgomery County's westernmost suburbs with functional transportation, officials said.

"It's a good day for Montgomery County when we get that kind of access," County Commissioner Joseph M. Hoeffel III said.

Aside from LaHood, the audience for the well-advertised morning briefing on possible government projects to reshape the corridor was deep in politicians considering critical elections soon.

Beside Specter, who is headed for a Democratic primary challenge for his Senate seat, sat Hoeffel, who has been discussed as a possible Democratic candidate for governor, and U.S. Rep. Joe Gerlach (R., Pa.), who has announced his candidacy for governor.

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), Specter's opponent in the Democratic primary, did not attend. He toured a Royersford train station yesterday and criticized Specter for helping trim other transportation projects from stimulus spending.

"I'm glad to see that [Specter is] speaking of it now," Sestak said, "but I'm disappointed in the actions he took that have cut transportation funding."