When Westmoreland County Commissioner Phil Light rode east on Route 30 from his childhood home in Edgewood in Allegheny County to his family's farm in Cook Township, he said it never took too long.
"Back then, you could make it from Edgewood to the Diamond in Ligonier in 45 minutes, and you didn't even have to speed," said Light, 65, of the 50-mile trip. "I wouldn't suggest trying that today."
That's because of what Light said is the stress level motorists encounter on Route 30 with the glut of traffic signals and vehicle congestion from decades of development along the busy corridor.
"Not only is there local traffic, there's cross-country motorists and the out-of-town travelers trying to figure out where to go," Light said. "Maybe through some better land-use planning, we can reduce that stress level."
Such was the goal of "Corridor Planning: Lessons from the Route 30 Master Plan," meeting held Wednesday at Regional Enterprise Tower in Pittsburgh by the Local Government Academy and Sustainable Pittsburgh.
In addition to Light, speakers included Alex Graziani, executive director of the Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County; Allen Cohen of Pashek Associates; Carla Santoro of Baker Engineering; and John Turack of the Penn State Cooperative Extension.
Addressing about 50 audience members, Graziani said Smart Growth, the nonprofit working with the county's municipalities to address the challenges associated with economic growth and revitalization, is at the midpoint of the three-stage master plan.
The goal is to involve local planners and community stakeholders in determining how to preserve Route 30, the county's rural areas, revitalizing towns along the corridor and ensuring safe and efficient transportation.
"Route 30 is not going to become a seven- or nine-lane road; the money's just not there for that," Graziani said. "But very rarely is Route 30 a Main Street anywhere in the county, and we want to maintain its throughway nature."
Cohen, who previously served as North Huntingdon's planning director and Murrysville's community development director, said it's important that the plan maintain a multimunicipal approach.
"Communities have to feel they have a part in this thing, and they're starting to see that with common linkages to concerns, issues and similar objectives," Cohen said.
Santoro, the plan's traffic engineering consultant, said a land-use scenario plan is in place to analyze projected traffic volumes and travel times by 2030. There is also potential for the development of more parallel roads near commercial sites along Route 30 to help reduce congestion, Santoro said.
Turack, a Smart Growth consultant who also serves as Blairsville's Main Street Manager, said ideas for development on Route 30 eventually might be applied to Route 22.
A design implementation event for the Route 30 Master Plan is scheduled for October.
