The purpose of the Route 30 environmental impact study is to develop and evaluate roadway improvements that will improve safety and traffic flow on approximately 9 _ miles of Route 30 between Route 896 in East Lampeter Township and Route 41 in Salisbury Township. Among possible improvements that can be made to Route 30 are four different bypass routes as well as changes to the existing roadway. In addition, there is a proposal to connect Route 41 and Route 772 at either an intersection or interchange with Route 30. PENNDOT, through the public meeting, is seeking feedback from residents, businesses, and motorists on the different proposals being presented.

The public meeting on March 26^th will be held at the Pequea Valley High School located at 4033 East Newport Road in Kinzers. The meeting will follow an "Open House" format in which people may attend the meeting at their leisure anytime between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Various maps and research data will be on display. Representatives from PENNDOT and the consultant for the study (McCormick, Taylor & Associates of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) will be available to discuss the study and answer questions.

"We encourage interested individuals to preview the public meeting displays on the study website," said Barry Hoffman, PENNDOT District Engineer for south central Pennsylvania. "This is the most extensive sharing of information that we have ever done prior to a public meeting. The main focus of the public meeting will be on the analysis of the preliminary alternatives and their potential impacts on the region. The website provides people the opportunity to see the most up-to-date information prior to attending the public meeting. If someone does not have access to the Internet, local libraries may be able to provide assistance. All this information will be on display at the public meeting."

This environmental impact study, which began a little more than two years ago, is the resumption of an earlier study that originated in 1993 to improve the Route 30 corridor in eastern Lancaster County. Work on the earlier study was suspended in 1996 due to PENNDOT’s worsening financial condition when funding was directed to more pressing transportation needs in Lancaster County. Since the resumption of the study, new traffic and accident data have been collected and analyzed, historic resources of the corridor have been inventoried, and the needs for future improvement have been formally identified and documented for public review. A public meeting was held on February 20, 2002 to re-introduce the study to the public, share the data that had been collected up to that point, and review the analysis of the project needs.

"The overall study will still take about two more years to complete," said Hoffman. "The feedback from the March 26^th public meeting and other local meetings is important. On the website and in this public meeting, we present what we’ve developed as our best ideas to deal with the transportation problems on Route 30. We recognize that the best solution to address these problems may not yet be identified. That’s why the input and the feedback we receive are so important. We’re here to listen, and this process will help us determine which alternatives to drop from further consideration and which ideas we should pursue for further development and evaluation. We encourage people interested in improving Route 30 to check the website and come to the public meeting to ask questions and give us their feedback. "