After decades of trying to figure out what to do with the building, Delaware County, Pa. is almost ready to move its tourist department into the 18th Century Rose Tree Tavern in the county-owned Rose Tree Park in Upper Providence Township.
The county, in a typical display of its insecurity, calls the department the Brandywine Conference and Visitors Bureau. It should be noted that the Brandywine River will now be 12 miles away from the new HQ and the Brandywine Valley is an exceedingly small portion of the historically influential county.
Regardless, the historic building is now about to be put into use and we can now address the real issue. For 200-plus years, the building had stood about 200 feet to the southwest which meant it was almost directly at the corner of Rose Tree and Providence roads, the latter of which would become at that particular stretch the heavily traveled State Route 252.
Plans to install desperately needed turn lanes were always squashed due to the complexities relating to the historic structure. This meant long exhaust-emitting, gasoline-wasting traffic jams.
So it was moved back on Aug. 10, 2004 with PennDOT bearing the entire $1.25 million bill and fixing the jams became a simple thing.
So where are the turn lanes?
We have solar panels on the Springfield Library, we have brand new rails for the Route 101 trolley but we don’t have turn lanes at a infamous problem intersection the placement of which would have done far more to alleviate pollution — and achieve energy independence — than a hundred feel-good projects.
The refusal of “man-made global warming” activists to get involved in the mundane and practical solutions — like unsnarling traffic — to their various complaints is just one more reason to doubt their sincerity.
When they get around to demanding the end of toll roads and bridges is when you can get around to considering buying a Chevy Volt.