Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has proposed widening the 7.5 mile stretch at the southern end of of the Route 202 corridor linking Delaware with West Chester.

In a proposed environmental-impact document recently issued for public comment, PennDOT said it favors widening the highway -- known as Wilmington Pike in Chester County and Wilmington-West Chester Pike in Delaware County -- from four to six lanes and building interchanges with Lincoln Highway at Painters Crossroads and at two other major intersections farther north. The department has rejected the idea of a limited-access expressway as harmful to commercial interests and unlikely to get support in Delaware where it would replace Concord Pike with an extension to Wilmington.

Three possible alignments are offered for the highway between the state line and Painters Crossroads. One would eliminate the split of north- and southbound lanes through Elam, putting the entire roadway east of that hamlet and turning the present southbound lanes into a local-use 'main street'. The document is not specific about the future of the Pyle Road intersection just inside Pennsylvania. It does emphasize protecting the park at the site of the Revolutionary War Battle of the Brandywine in Chadds Ford. The plan, PennDOT said, will increase highway capacity while preserving open space.

The Route 202 improvement project has been underway since 1991 and recently saw completion of a massive interchange with the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Schuylkill Expressway near King-of-Prussia.

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Paladin Club residents charged the community's developer with precipitously tearing down an old stone wall to prevent its being designated an historical asset.

 Roy Jackson said a Pettinaro Construction crew showed up in subfreezing weather on Jan. 22 and took down a large part of the wall, which he said dated back to when the property was part of the Sellers

historical significance." But, she said, the board agreed to "investigate" further in response to the issue having been raised by the community. That, however, is different, she said, from conducting a "formal review" and does not legally protect the structure. Company officials did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

A Web site promoting the sale of Paladin condominium units specifically lists stone walls as contributing to the ambiance of the southeastern Brandywine Hundred community.

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DON'T GO THERE: Delaware Department of Education has blocked access from in-school computers to a national Web site where students can rate their teachers. That was done "at the request of several teachers that found the site disruptive during classroom time," said Colleen Gause, of DelDOE's telecommunications section. Michael Hussey, of ratemyteachers.com, said Delaware is the first state to impose a restriction. There currently are 11,383 ratings of 2,622 teachers in 145 Delaware schools on the site, he said. The DelDOE ban applies just to public schools; anyone can access the site from elsewhere. (CLICK HERE to visit the site.)

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SMELL CHECKERS: The Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control said it is ready to identify who is fouling the air in southeastern Brandywine Hundred -- maybe. The first phase of an odor study has been completed and the department now has 'chemical signatures' of the industrial facilities between Interstate 495 and the Delaware River, according to a press statement. "The next time an odor even occurs, [it] will be better able to identify the source and take appropriate response actions," the statement said.

However, the statement cautioned, the arrangement is far from foolproof. "The mixing of odors from more than one source, winds and other environmental conditions may make it difficult to prove the source of the odor," it said. Residents of northeast Wilmington and the Edgemoor area have been inclined to blame gas escaping from the Cherry Island Marsh landfill for recurring problems. But the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, while admitting it deserves some of the blame, claims that the several plants in the area have to share its guilt.

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DEAL DENIED: Charles Baker, general manager of the Department of Land Use, denied the existence of any agreement concerning future county financing of the Claymont Renaissance. "Expectations are funny," he said at a recent meeting while responding to a question from Mark Weinberg, of the county Planning Board. After it was announced that the Claymont Coalition would receive a $20,000 community planning grant, Councilman Robert Weiner charged that was money that had been promised a year ago and not what was anticipated to finance future consulting work.

Baker told the Planning Board that his department "had some issues about working out the scope of [future] work" proposed by Thomas Comitta, the Renaissance's consultant. He did not specify what they were, but Weiner had said the project's steering committee had eliminated preliminary plans for redeveloping Brookview Apartments at county request. In any event, Baker said, "there seems to be some sort of impression that we had an oral contract" adding that that is not so. The amount of support the county will give the Renaissance "is something we will work through in the next couple of months." [CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.]

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MOVING ON: Mark Chura, the state's point man on the off-the-roads components of the Blue Ball Project, has resigned has position as manager of planning, preservation and development for the Division of Parks & Recreation, effective Jan. 30, to take a job as project manager for Rehoboth Beach-based Atlantic Associates. In addition to shepherding development of Alapocas Run Park and renovation of the historic Blue Ball barn, Chura has been involved for several years with the development of Fox Point State Park and a variety of other Brandywine Hundred assignments.

BATTLE WON; WAR LOST: County Council and several civic associations won a pyrrhic victory on Jan. 20 when the state House of Representatives approved a bill previously passed by the Senate that would have restored a seven-member Council after the 2004 election. Governor Ruth Ann Minner immediately said she will veto the measure, allowing the present law expanding Council to 13 members to stand. Sources say there is neither the will nor the votes to override her veto. Brandywine Hundred representatives Wayne Smith and David Ennis were recorded as not voting; the others voted 'aye'.

In response to a Delaforum inquiry, Minner spokesperson Kate Bailey said the governor "feels that smaller council districts will allow council members to be more responsive and more representative." Moreover, she added, the expansion has been in the works since 1996 and only recently has it been challenged. The Department of Elections has "invested time and energy in the switch [and] to undo the long-planned expansion just months before the election now would cause confusion," she said. (CLICK here to read previous Delaforum article.)

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