Efficient Growth for Growing Suburbs

East Whiteland Township and Malvern Borough, Chester County: Malin Road Extension Feasibility Study

Project Location Map
[0.2 MB .pdf]

Overview

East Whiteland Township and Malvern Borough were jointly awarded a $50,000 EGGS grant to conduct a feasibility study for the Malin Road Extension. The purpose of the feasibility study is to determine alternative roadway alignments, evaluate traffic impacts, assess potential environmental impacts, and provide cost estimates to design and construct a proposed one-mile roadway that will connect Malin Road in East Whiteland's industrial area to Pennsylvania Avenue in Malvern's industrial area. The extension will provide trucks with direct access to and from these industrial areas onto Route 30. Truck traffic will be redirected away from surrounding residential neighborhoods, enhancing and protecting the transit-oriented village development patterns characteristic of the project area.

Objectives

The purpose of the proposed Malin Road Extension is to create a connector roadway that redirects truck traffic, which is incompatible with the area's village context, and to better facilitate access to the SEPTA Malvern Station. This overall purpose supports a number of other objectives. Specifically, the project:

• Maintains the effectiveness of the SEPTA Malvern Station, which is the primary local transit option in the study area, by redirecting truck traffic away from the station to enhance pedestrian access and safety while providing an important new link to the station;
• maintains the effectiveness of local roads and bridges (including Broad Street, Bridge Street, and Warren Avenue) not suitable for heavy truck traffic;
• reduces congestion along narrow, residential streets (including Broad Street, Bridge Street, and Warren Avenue) to support the area's village context and enhance safety and quality of life for residents;
• enhances the existing grid network surrounding the station by connecting two cul-de-sacs to create a new community connector;
• improves truck access from the project area to Route 30 to support competitiveness of existing local businesses;
• creates new development parcels suitable for transit-oriented development that will concentrate growth around existing infrastructure and reduce vehicle travel; and
• leverages SEPTA investment in the Malvern Station improvements by enhancing multi-modal access to the station and support transit oriented development and new construction.

Status

The project team selected McMahon and Associates to lead the feasibility study. The study was completed in December, 2010.

Grant Products

• Malin Road Extension Feasibility Study Area [1.1 MB .pdf]
• Malin Road Extension Feasibility Study [16.0 MB .pdf]