At a recent pre-construction meeting for the planned replacement of a bridge on Main Street in Pennsburg, council President Diane Stevens heard some unsettling news. According to Stevens, officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation had forgotten to submit their revised plans to Montgomery County's Soil Conservation District.

            Stevens expressed concerns that the work to replace the bridge will be further delayed. However, Member Wayne Stevens announced during Tuesday's council meeting that tentative plans to close the road between 8th and 11th streets on Feb. 17 remain.

            The council president learned during a Jan. 5 meeting that PennDOT failed to submit a new plan, which called for a flat road instead of a redesigned bridge, to the soil conservation district. Diane Stevens quoted Carl Hollenback, an engineering technician with the Montgomery County Conservation District, as saying his agency has not received a submission since late 2021. Additionally, the last approval from the soil conservation district came in January 2021.

            According to engineer John Rundy, the project could likely commence on schedule so long as the area disturbed by the new design does not far exceed the original plan. He said after the meeting that it's hard to identify that difference.

            Reached on Wednesday morning, a PennDOT spokesperson claimed the project won't be delayed. In an email message, Robyn Briggs wrote that the agency's construction team has indicated that the project and the detour remain on schedule.

            Upper Perk Police Chief Joe Adam informed council of a significant increase in police activity during 2022 as compared to the previous year. Officers responded to 6,201 total calls during last year, a 17.91 percent increase from 2021.

            The department responded to 41 reportable vehicle accidents, a 78.26 percent increase over the previous year. The number of non-reportable accidents jumped by 83.3 percent to 52.

            Non-traffic citations, also identified as summary offenses, that totaled 48, went up by 220 percent in 2022. The number of non-reportable accidents jumped by 83.33 percent.

            Traffic citations (338) and parking tickets or warnings (84) issued by the department increased by 61.72 percent and 61.54 percent, respectively.

            Traffic details jumped by 45.46 percent to 508 from 2021. The department conducted 622 vehicle investigations, a 33.19 percent increase over the previous 12 months, according to information presented by the chief.

            The number of false alarms at businesses in the borough dropped by 50 percent to 53 in 2022. Adam credited an ordinance passed last year by council for the decrease.

            After the meeting, the chief explained the increased incidents as a by-product of the borough being the center of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. Adam said an influx of new residents and the commerce that occurs in Pennsburg played a role in the increase. 

            "I don't see the numbers going down," said the chief, who suggested that one solution might include hiring additional officers for the department.

            Sgt. Matthew Boaman suggested that there could be a correlation to the spike in calls and increased traffic to the Pennsburg Square Shopping Center, located at 482 Pottstown Avenue. He said a traffic study completed at least two years ago at the intersection of Routes 663 and 29 counts 10,000 daily cars.

            In December, the department responded to 381 total calls. It handled 142 public services, 24 vehicle investigations, issued 19 warnings and completed 18 traffic details.

            The officers issued four parking tickets or warnings. They responded to nine non-reportable accidents, no reportable accidents and six false alarms at businesses. They made two criminal arrests and issued six non-traffic citations.