The Brandywine Conservancy initiated its Conservation Opportunities program in response to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's (PennDOT) proposal to widen Route 41 from two lanes to four lanes between the Delaware state line and PA Route 926. PennDOT first proposed the widening in the mid-1990s and has most recently suggested, with extensive input from stakeholders, improvements within a two-lane layout, along with bypass(es) of critical locations such as Avondale. Because Route 41 serves a wide range of homeowners, farmers, and businesses, meeting the needs of the users will affect the final road design as well as the land and resources within the corridor.

The Route 41 corridor contains the highest percentage of prime farmland soils (a nationally-designated ranking) per acre in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The corridor also includes the starting points of five streams that are tributaries to the Brandywine and Octoraro Creeks. These public drinking water sources supply critical fresh water to the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. The corridor supports a number of historic locations where future growth could be accommodated using existing or planned infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer.

With a generous grant from the Margaret Dorrance Strawbridge Foundation of Pennsylvania I, Inc. the Brandywine Conservancy's Environmental Management Center developed the Conservation Opportunities program. This multi-faceted research, technical assistance, and education effort resulted in the protection of important resources while helping to plan growth in appropriate areas of the Route 41 corridor. Conservation Opportunities achievements to date include successful, voter-approved open space protection referenda in three municipalities within the corridor. These achievements and the Conservancy's cutting-edge research are described in the report, Conservation Opportunities for Corridor Preservation and Community Development. Also addressed in the report are the tools that could be used to balance growth and resource protection. The tools include comprehensive planning, ordinance development and revision (e.g., Transfer of Development Rights), conservation and agricultural easements, and more.

The introductory pages of the Conservation Opportunities report can be found by clicking on the link above. To request a copy of the complete report, please contact Margie Bellwoar at the Brandywine Conservancy's Environmental Management Center at 610-388-8386 or mbellwoar@brandywine.org. The research reports that support Conservation Opportunities are found in the links above.