By Josh McKnight | The McKnight Team
Lower Merion and Narberth have released preliminary recommendations to change about seven miles of Montgomery Avenue, from Spring Mill Road to City Avenue. Ideas include cutting some four lane stretches to three, adding traffic lights at T intersections, and making some cross streets right turn only.
For Montgomery Avenue Lower Merion homeowners, these are proposals, not decisions. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the recommendations are for planning only, and any change would still need approval and funding.
Where the Study Stands Now
The study was paid for with $340,540 from the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program. It follows a community meeting in February, where township engineers presented traffic and crash data for the corridor.
Reportable crashes on the studied stretch numbered 97 in 2022, 142 in 2023 and 116 in 2024. A reportable crash is one with an injury or a car that had to be towed. Township wide, Lower Merion recorded 3,767 crashes from 2019 to 2023, including 13 fatal crashes, according to its 2025 safety plan. Montgomery Avenue is one of five roads where most of the serious injuries happened.
Lower Merion homes sold for a median of $980,000 from April through September 2026, with a median of 6 days to contract, per Bright MLS data in our Lower Merion market report. Our read: on a $980,000 median, a traffic change will not move prices much on its own. It does change how a specific house lives. A home that gains a light at its corner gets easier to pull out of. A home on a street that goes right turn only gets a longer drive home. Check the map for your exact block before you list or buy a home.
Some ideas would cover the whole corridor: better street lighting, higher visibility crosswalks and clearer speed limit signs. Others are block specific, such as curb extensions and left turn bans at certain intersections. The block specific changes are the ones that could affect how your street works day to day.
Montgomery Avenue Lower Merion Study: What Happens Next
First, the public review. The preliminary findings were set for a public meeting on October 26 in the boardroom of the Lower Merion Township Building at 75 East Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore. The block by block recommendations sit on an interactive map linked from the township’s study page.
Second, written comments. The project team takes comments by email at montavestudy@lowermerion.org. If your home or your daily route touches the avenue, send yours now, while the plan is still preliminary.
Third, the final plan. The team will review feedback and present final recommendations at a meeting later this year or in early 2027. That is the version to read closely, because it is what the township and the borough would carry forward.
Fourth, approval and money. Nothing gets built from a study alone. Each project would need its own approval and its own funding before any lane, light or turn restriction changes on the ground.
What to Do Before Each Step
If you own on or near Montgomery Avenue, look up your block on the map before the final plan comes out. Note anything that would change how you get in and out of your driveway or your street. Your comments carry the most weight before the final recommendations, not after.
If you plan to sell in the next year, be ready for buyers to ask. A clear answer helps: the study is preliminary, the township has not approved any change, and here is what the map shows for this block. Buyers worry most about what they cannot pin down.
If You Are Buying Along the Avenue
If you are buying, ask your agent to pull the study map for any home within a block or two of Montgomery Avenue. A proposed light or turn limit is worth knowing before you write an offer, even if it never gets built. For wider numbers across the county, see our Montgomery County housing market report.
Thinking about buying or selling in Lower Merion? Let’s talk.
