Chester Valley Trail improvement unveiled in Exton - Daily Local News
Township and County officials celebrated the completion of two projects Wednesday to make traveling on foot or bicycle in Exton safer and more convenient.
They are the Route 100 multi-modal trail extension between Exton station and the Chester Valley Trail and signal upgrades and crossing improvements to the Chester Valley Trail where it crosses Route 100.
While approved as two separate projects by the two governments independently, officials implemented them together to save money and prevent traffic inconvenience.
“Here is a good example of how inter-agency coordination really panned out,” said Ted Otteni, West Whiteland Director of Public works. “It reduced the overwork, it reduced the conflict and the inconvenience to our motorists and pedestrians here in Exton.”
State Senator Andrew Dinniman, D-19th, of West Whiteland, said some credit for the train station extension project had to be given to developer Steven Wolfson, owner of Main Street at Exton, who put up half the money, $340,000, for the train station project.
Total cost for both projects was $1.4 million including $375,000 from a state multi-modal grant secured by Dinniman and more than $75,000 from the Township for the train station project. Chester County Commissioners secured $390,000 in grant funding through PennDOT and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission for the Route 100 Crossing.
Wolfson thanked officials for the improvements.
“We’re very excited about the project,” said Wolfson. “The Township Manager did a great job persuading me to be a partner here. It wasn’t on our radar, but clearly you put it on our radar and we are appreciative.”
“From the very beginnings of the train station, we wanted to make sure each of the five stations in Chester County was integrated somehow with the economic vitality of each region. It was quite clear that here in Exton, we needed to get a path from the train station to Main Street at Exton and then further into other areas,” said Dinniman. “Finally we will be able to integrate the township into the station.”
“It’s always good to be here doing something positive for the economic development of the county when we’re doing something that is also positive in terms of the environment. I congratulate the Township Supervisors and their leadership,” Dinniman said.
Chester County Commissioners Chair Marian Moskowitz noted the last time she had been to a public event was the ribbon cutting for the Exton Train station project in March.
