Before I moved to Chester County many years ago now, I lived in Lower Merion Township. I was in the Haverford neighborhood sandwiched between Montgomery and Lancaster Avenues near the Haverford School, which was across Lancaster Avenue as a matter of fact, it had a nickname called “the island.”
This wasn’t the north side (as in other side of Montgomery Avenue or the Merion Cricket Club side) of Haverford neighborhood I grew up in that had then, and still has today insanely soaring real estate prices. This was just a pretty transitional neighborhood close to the Haverford train station, where you could easily walk to both Ardmore and Bryn Mawr.
The neighborhoods across Lancaster Ave from me were actually in Haverford Township. That used to confuse people to think Haverford Township came to there, but it did and it still does. It’s a county and municipal line, and five points in Bryn Mawr is also two counties, but three municipalities.
One of the best things about my then neighborhood was you could walk a relatively short distance to get access to the Haverford Nature Trail. It was awesome. I used to walk myself and my dogs over there once, if not twice a day. When I first moved into the neighborhood, you had to move quickly but you could safely cross Lancaster Avenue via North Buck Lane (Lower Merion) on my side and Buck Lane (Haverford) on the other side. By 2007, it really wasn’t safe to do that. Traffic was bad but unwanted development was starting to march through, which would ultimately increase traffic in my opinion.
In 2007, we watched as lovely houses were torn down for McMansion-ish dwellings on Rugby Road in the Haverford Township side of Bryn Mawr. It was when many of us started talking about the need for the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of PA (MPC) to be comprehensively overhauled to help protect suburbs and exurbs.
The day after Christmas in 2008, or Boxing Day, my neighborhood watched as a developer tore down houses, including one of which was technically historical. It was initially for a condo building. Eventually it became “carriage homes” / townhouses. I will note that even today, the structures don’t truly fit into the neighborhood and in my opinion still complement nothing much. Oh, and they still overlook Classic Auto Body. I still can’t imagine paying Main Line prices to overlook a couple of body shops as there is still one I think across Lancaster Avenue from Classic Auto Body.
In 2007, the then editor of Main Line Media News who before his death was editor of The Daily Local penned an editorial that still resonates today about development:
Neighbors of these developments came together, organized, and attended so many meetings during the early to mid 2000s. In some ways it helped, but in other ways it was soul crushing to see development that had little to do with the area itself taking over and not necessarily being harmonious with the neighborhood invaded. In late 2007, I wrote an editorial for Main Line Media News celebrating these neighbors groups:
In case you missed it, this is why I get upset about a lot of the truly wanton development in Chester County. I lived it, in part, before. This is in part why I know in my heart Malvern Borough has made a mistake with that absurdly named Duffryn Mawr across King from the Flying Pig.
But I digress.
Why am I revisiting this? Because in my opinion, traffic issues we saw before the development projects I have mentioned in Bryn Mawr and Haverford even happened, have now morphed into a need for Haverford Township to rethink the configuration of what will always be small streets to protect the community and pedestrians.
I don’t pay close attention to Main Line and just off of the Main Line stuff like I used to, but this newsletter from 5th Ward Commissioner of Haverford Township Laura Cavendish:
https://mailchi.mp/havtwp/july122025?e=f434c78b67
Allow me to share the excerpt that caught my eye:
July 13, 2025
Dear Neighbors,
The Board of Commissioners will hold its monthly public meeting on Monday, July 14. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few updates and reminders from around the Township.
Safe Streets Demonstration Project on Buck Lane
Within the next few weeks, Haverford Township will begin a Traffic Safety Demonstration Project on the 800 block of Buck Lane (between Railroad Avenue and Panmure Road), as part of the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program.
Key features include:
- Converting Buck Lane to one-way northbound travel (Railroad to Panmure) to reduce southbound cut-through traffic and improve pedestrian and bike safety.
- Reconfiguring the roadway for one lane of traffic, a buffer, and a protected multi-use path for pedestrians and cyclists.
- Temporarily eliminating on-street parking on the block during the project.
During peak times, 65–75 vehicles per hour will be rerouted, but traffic studies suggest minimal impact on surrounding roads. The Township is coordinating with local schools to adjust transportation routes.
A community feedback survey will be shared about three months after the project begins. You can find the Brynford Safe Streets Study here. For questions about this demonstration project, contact Jaime Jilozian at jjilozian@havtwp.org or 610-446-1000.
Here is the link to what she referred to on Haverford Township’s website:
It’s so weird to think that part of Buck Lane will be one way, but I applaud Haverford Township for seeking solutions. When we tried to get traffic calming in our Lower Merion neighborhood back in the late 90s to early 2000s before the development projects I have discussed here were begun, we only got so far and we got a municipal smack back.
The impetus was a hit and run of a neighborhood dog back then, and subsequent realization of how many little kids we had as well as pedestrians. We pushed for a traffic study and I believe that my then small street had a crazy number of something like over 1200 vehicle trips per day clocked.
Our neighborhood back then was a big cut through between Lancaster and Montgomery Avenues, and probably still is. We had neighborhood meetings called parlor meetings with township officials including the police in our living rooms. I remember this well, because I hosted the first meeting at that time in my own living room.
We looked at surrounding areas, and were particularly interested in something Radnor Township was doing back then: speed humps. As opposed to speed bumps. This was before 2006, but I don’t remember the exact date. It was before the current 10th Ward Lower Merion Commissioner in Lower Merion was elected. (He’s still there)
I remember speaking with traffic safety folks in Radnor to get speed hump information. They even gave me PennDOT information at that time.
But Lower Merion was having none of it. It got to the point where the Lower Merion Commissioners then introduced an ordinance to prohibit speed humps. They seemingly erased all evidence of this today because more recently they have selectively introduced speed humps in the township since that time. But I personally know that this happened as during the course of this all those years ago, I received a letter in the mail basically warning me off from asking for speed humps in my then neighborhood.
So because of all of this, I am glad Haverford Township is trying new traffic calming measures. But, this remains a cautionary tale in my opinion, of what happens when too much development comes to an area over time.
Take a look at what Haverford Township is trying to do here and I welcome comments from neighbors in the area if they read this post to learn their thoughts.
Now mind you this was only one site proposed for Haverford Township, there were multiple sites. All in the shadow of churches, schools, small businesses, neighborhoods. And don’t forget the issue at five points in Bryn Mawr, which while technically in 
Well here we are at the end of 2019 and billboards are back as you can see above. This letter was sent out by Haverford Township 5th Ward commissioner Andy Lewis.
I never know what the media is going to cover or not cover, and they have been quite devoted over the years to the residents potentially affected by these billboards. However, I have a lot of friends that still live near these billboards sites so I am posting this because how could I not? Back in the day I went to every billboard hearing until I was diagnosed with breast cancer in the spring of 2011.
I will also note this is the same company residents in Tredyffrin are fighting. (See 
I no longer live in or near the areas of Haverford Township being threatened, nor do I live close by to the proposed site in Tredyffrin in Paoli. But as a citizen of this country until they revoke it, I still have my First Amendment Rights… which interestingly enough has always seem to be one of the arguments for why these billboards should be allowed and I’ve never understood that and can you understand that?
