Upper Providence adopts updated official and right‑of‑way maps after residents raise safety concerns about Hopwood Road

The Upper Providence Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted amended official and right‑of‑way maps on April 27 after residents urged the board to reconsider a proposed through‑connection at Hopwood Road.

At a public hearing and extended comment period, residents from the Hopwood Road area told the board that the map’s planned connection would bring higher traffic volumes through residential streets and increase risks for children playing near the roadway. "We're just trying to understand whether the Hopwood Road connection is gonna be in the plans coming up for the next year in the budget," said Nicole Meyer, a Hawkwood Road resident who identified herself during public comment.

Jeff, a township planning staff member who presented the maps, said the right‑of‑way map (the older map dates to 1994 and the official map to 2008) is a planning tool to show where the township might widen or realign roads and that updating the map does not itself authorize construction. "It is purely a planning tool that says, hey, look, we might do this in the future," Jeff said. He told the board the township has budgeted money this year to design the Hopwood‑Bechtel realignment — design only — and that any decision to build would come later through budgeting or grant funding.

Residents pressed for alternatives and interim safety measures such as increased enforcement, traffic calming or signage; Brenna Castaneda, speaking for a group of neighbors, said she had not seen police patrols or accidents but worried about putting a major feeder through a community with young children. Jeff and other supervisors said the design study will analyze crash history, roadway geometry, and land‑use projections and will include traffic engineering and land‑use assumptions. Staff invited residents to join a committee the township plans to form this summer and to participate in the budget‑season hearings (budget hearings begin in the fall) where funding priorities would be set.

Supervisor [Committee member] moved to adopt the amended official map and right‑of‑way map (referred to during the meeting as Ordinance 6 17); another supervisor seconded the motion and the board approved it by voice vote. The chair emphasized that the map adoption "doesn't pass anything that's gonna happen" and that future work — design, acquisition, construction — would require separate budget decisions, engineering, and public input.

The next procedural steps the board laid out are formation of the traffic subcommittee this summer, scheduling of traffic‑study public meetings, and potential budget hearings in September–December if the board pursues construction funding. The township said traffic engineers and consultants will present detailed findings as part of that later process.

The board handled several other items at the same meeting, including approvals for land‑development matters and a set of routine motions summarized separately.