Major Investment Study / Draft Environmental Impact Statement   5. Affected Environment and Consequences     5.19 Secondary And Cumulative Impacts

5.19 SECONDARY AND CUMULATIVE IMPACTS

5.19.1 REGULATORY SETTING

5.19.2 SECONDARY IMPACTS

5.19.2.1 NO-BUILD ALTERNATIVE

5.19.2.2 TSM ALTERNATIVE

5.19.2.3 BUILD ALTERNATIVES 

Reduce highway congestion and eliminate bottlenecks in the corridor - Transit in the corridor will reduce corridor traffic congestion as commuters switch from automobiles to transit along the corridor. Congestion may increase at certain key locations near stations - for example Route 23 near Port Kennedy and the roadways near the Douglassville station, unless roadway and roadway signal improvements not a part of the SVM project are implemented.

SOCIOECONOMIC GOALS

Strengthen the older communities as centers of economic activity - Several of the project's new stations - Phoenixville, Royersford, Pottstown, BARTA ITF (Reading), Reading Outer Station, and Wyomissing - are located in the older communities within the corridor. Norristown, Conshohocken, Spring Mill, and Manayunk are older communities along the existing R6 commuter rail line. The SVM project is a key element of the revitalization plans for the communities west of Norristown and for the enhancement of the revitalization that has begun to take hold in Norristown and the communities east of Norristown.

Strengthening would be derived from the economic opportunities resulting from the presence of daily commuters, enhanced desirability as a place to live as a result of improved access to transit, transit-oriented residential and commercial development in the vicinity of the stations, the increased competitiveness as an employment center, and enhancement as a destination for recreational activities. Several communities, notably Pottstown and Phoenixville, have incorporated or are in the process of incorporating SVM stations as part of economic redevelopment master plans. Consequently, it is expected that SVM will result in positive secondary impacts of increased economic activity and redevelopment in older corridor communities.

A related potential impact, which can be viewed as positive or negative depending upon one's perspective, is the possibility of "gentrification" of low and moderate income neighborhoods within short distances from new stations. (Gentrification is the process by which poor and moderate income residents, including where applicable minorities and the elderly, are displaced from neighborhoods by rising costs and other forces directly related to an influx of new, wealthier residents). New stations locations that might be impacted include: 52^nd Street, Phoenixville, Royersford, Pottstown, BARTA ITF, and Reading Outer Station. The presence of a new nearby transit station would be expected to increase the value of property and the willingness of owners or investors to upgrade the property. Property renovation and improvement increases a municipality's tax base and a neighborhood's appearance and economic activity. On the other hand, current residents and businesses may no longer be able to afford to live in this housing or operate commercial ventures due to increased property taxes, higher rents, or lease terminations. 

Promote the economic development of Center City Philadelphia as the core of the region - Center City Philadelphia is the traditional core of the region's economy. It is by far the single largest concentration of employment in the region and the entire state. Traffic congestion along the US Route 422/Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) corridor and the associated traffic delays diminish commuters' willingness to commute to Philadelphia and is viewed negatively by organizations selecting new locations for or to expand their businesses. The city's competitiveness in retaining existing businesses and nurturing or attracting new ones is partially a function of ease of commute. Similarly, potential visitors to the city's cultural institutions avoid the city due to concerns about traffic and congestion. The SVM would enhance Center City's attractiveness as an employment and cultural center, improve the image of Philadelphia and the region, increase tax revenues, and, overall, contribute to stemming and reversing the losses the city has incurred.

Encourage transit-friendly communities, at higher densities - Stimulating development of higher density, transit-friendly communities would promote several positive secondary community and environmental impacts. Population has been decreasing for many years in the corridor's cities and boroughs, including Reading, Pottstown, Phoenixville, Norristown and Philadelphia, resulting in lesser tax bases, less support for cultural institutions, underutilized and decaying infrastructure, and various levels of other community ills. Initiation of high frequency transit service could stimulate redevelopment of these older communities. Higher density, transit-friendly communities also benefit the region by reducing the demand for "sprawl" development in the remaining open areas and reducing energy consumption and vehicular air emissions.

Foster transit-oriented development (TOD) around transit stations - In anticipation of the Schuylkill Valley Metro and so as to maximize positive secondary impacts, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) has initiated a Transit Oriented Development Study for the Delaware Valley, focusing on five station areas in the SVM corridor. Plans will be developed for Douglassville (Amity Township), Pottstown, Phoenixville, Port Kennedy (Upper Merion Township), and 52^nd Street (Philadelphia). These plans, which are being developed together with the local municipal and county agencies, will serve as models for other corridor communities.

Provide improved mobility opportunities to the transit dependent - The transit dependent include persons unable to afford to own and maintain an automobile (or more than one automobile in the case of two worker families), persons unable to drive automobiles, and persons who choose not to own automobiles. Section 5.3 documented that the older, less affluent communities have fewer automobiles per family. These same communities have higher rates of unemployment or underemployment. SVM's alignment is linked directly to Philadelphia's and the Philadelphia area's regional commuter rail system, subway/elevated systems, subway surface car system. It is connected to the bus systems in Pottstown and Reading. SVM would result in increased mobility to several key regional employment and recreational locations for the transit dependent.

ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS

The Delaware Valley, including many corridor communities, is undergoing a rapid loss of open space and environmental amenities as a result of low-density residential, commercial, and industrial sprawl. 

Contain residential, commercial and industrial "sprawl" development along the corridor - As described in the preceding section on secondary socioeconomic impacts, revitalization of the older communities will encourage greater growth in these communities. Commercial and residential development in the older, already built communities can reduce sprawl by altering the economic balance between older communities and the surrounding area. Reducing sprawl will indirectly benefit natural ecological systems and water resources by reducing the conversion of open land to residential, commercial, and industrial development and reducing the increases in flood flows and impacts to water quality associated with new impervious surfaces.

Conform to Pennsylvania Air Quality Implementation Plan (SIP) as required by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA). Reduction in vehicle miles traveled and resultant reduction in energy consumption and vehicular emissions of ozone precursor and other contaminants (see Sections 5.8 and 5.14.) would cause both direct and secondary positive impacts.

Reduce runoff impacts and maintain groundwater recharge - Increases in the peak rate and volume of stormwater runoff and the coincident decrease in the groundwater recharge result from the construction of new residential and commercial development and requisite impervious surfaces on previously pervious wooded and other open space. Transit-oriented high-density development and redevelopment of older communities result in less urban sprawl and reduction of the amount of land covered by new impervious surfaces. Programs that reduce construction of new impervious surface coincidentally help protect surface water and groundwater resources.

FINANCIAL GOALS

Improve the productivity of the transit system - The addition of SVM to SEPTA's and BARTA's overall transit systems should spur increased ridership throughout the system. Commuters using SVM rather than automobiles are more likely to use other SEPTA and BARTA system elements, increasing system ridership and revenues. Increased economic competitiveness of the region resulting from lower congestion will also result in new jobs and greater use of the transit systems throughout the corridor. 

5.19.3 CUMULATIVE IMPACTS

Cumulative impacts result when the effects of a project are added to or interact with the effects of other projects in a particular place and within a particular time. The focus of cumulative impact analysis is the combination of these effects and any resulting environmental degradation. Cumulative impacts of a project can be viewed within the context of a resource, ecosystem, or human community in conjunction with all other activities that might affect resource, no matter what entity(s) (federal, state or local government[s] or private party[s]) is involved with the other projects.

For example, if the project under consideration would increase downstream flooding, but not enough to damage a downstream community, there would appear to be no impact. However, if other projects are being planned or are likely to occur, whose effects, when added to the subject project, would result in damaging flooding, there would be a cumulative impact. Likewise, damaging floods resulting from the effects of a current project combined with effects from all past projects would also be a cumulative impact. 

Cumulative impacts associated with the SVM project should be viewed within the context of development within the corridor and the Philadelphia-Reading region as a whole. The watersheds, ecosystems and human communities within the SVM corridor and region share more than 300 years of post-European contact, economic development, improvement, degradation, rehabilitation and renewal. Deforestation, mining of upriver coal resources, farming prior to modern erosion and sediment control practices, town and city building, industrial development, and transportation systems development have all contributed to a major transformation of the local and regional environment. For example, uncontrolled erosion of coal mining wastes, untreated or poorly treated sewage, poorly managed farms and industries caused the water of the Schuylkill River to become an execrable waste by the 1940s.

The major towns and cities along the corridor, including Philadelphia, Reading, Pottstown and Norristown, experienced many years of expansion and prosperity, and in more recent years have struggled to stem and reverse declines in their economies, infrastructures and populations. Much of the land in communities in the western portion of the corridor from Upper Merion west, have, since the 1950s, undergone and/or are undergoing tremendous suburban sprawl, overwhelming many of the existing roadways, school systems, and other community infrastructure. This development, which is almost entirely occurring outside of the older municipalities on what was until recently farmland and wooded hillsides, has and is rapidly continuing to transform the landscape of western Montgomery County, Chester County and eastern Berks County. 

In recent years, through the combined efforts of federal, state, and local governments, industries, builders, and the people of the corridor and region as a whole, there has been a tremendous renewal of the river's habitat conditions and aquatic life. Many of the older communities have begun to recover from the losses in employment, population, and tax base. State and county governments are beginning to more actively work to reduce the spread of sprawl.

As has been described in earlier sections of Chapter 5, the SVM project's potential impacts are substantially minimized by several factors. These include:

• Use of the existing railbed footprint, even with widening, greatly minimizes footprint-related impacts such as deforestation, wetlands destruction or diminution, habitat fragmentation, and stream channel alteration. 
• No streams will be crossed at locations where there is not already a bridge or culvert. Consequently, the project will not cause or increase backwater flooding, will not permanently block animal corridors, and will not newly alter stream channels and floodplain areas. 
• Project positioning in the most downstream portion of tributary watersheds results in the least possible potential for increasing downstream flooding. 
• By widening the alignment on the side away from the river and widening only where the railbed is above the 100-year flood elevation, the project will not impact the 100-year floodway and will have minimal and possibly no impacts to river flooding. 
• The surrounding communities, industries, and farms have developed with the basic rail corridor already in place. Consequently, the project will result in relatively few residential or commercial displacements, no severing of active roadways, no severing of communities, very little impingement on industrial facility operations, no severing of farmers' fields into inoperable units. 
• With one exception (Perkiomen Junction), station locations in the newly rail transit-served communities west of Norristown will be situated within areas of existing commercial, industrial, and high-density residential development, not farmland or forests. Consequently, transit oriented development will be in already established (and in many cases underutilized) areas and not in areas of farms and forests subject to suburban sprawl. 
• Community facilities sensitive to noise, such as hospitals, houses of worship, and schools, were, with few exceptions, not built next to the existing railroad right-of-way, and consequently will not be impacted. 
• Any archaeological sites within the project footprint will be characterized in accordance with federal and state requirements. The area to be impacted is substantially smaller than if a new rail corridor was projected. 
• The older communities with proposed station locations generally have infrastructure that can support additional residents and businesses. For example, Philadelphia's water distribution system once served a population of 2.1 million, it now serves about 25 percent fewer people. Consequently, the cumulative impacts to infrastructure from the project, nearby transit oriented development, and possible rippling effects on resurgence of the greater community will be small; the necessary roads, schools, water treatment plants and distribution systems, sewer collection systems, and wastewater treatment plants are already in place.

5.19.3.1 CUMULATIVE IMPACTS WITHOUT SVM

The details of the cumulative impact of all potential development within the project corridor cannot be predicted. A worst case scenario can be easily visualized - continuing residential and commercial development eliminating considerably more farmland and forest-covered area. The development would be entirely automobile dependent, resulting in much greater congestion of local and state roads and US Route 422. Commute time would continue to increase for area residents and quality of life indices would decrease. The congestion would lead to demand for more and wider local and state roads and additional lanes on US Route 422. The new development would put additional pressure on other infrastructure elements. There will be increasing demand for new or expanded water and sewer systems, more schools and more police. Air quality would degrade, and there would be further impacts to local streams and ecosystems. Meanwhile, despite the good efforts of many, the older communities - 52^nd Street neighborhood in Philadelphia, Norristown, Phoenixville, Pottstown and Reading - would continue to struggle with little progress or continued losses.

5.19.3.2 CUMULATIVE IMPACTS WITH SVM

Sprawl and all its attendant impacts may still occur, but the cumulative affects will be no greater with the SVM project than without it. If the SVM project is built, it is possible that the cumulative impacts of development within the corridor will be fewer.

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