One Road, One Mile, Many Street Sign Variations

Penllyn-Blue Bell Pike has five name variations on street signs within one mile, and some residents want to stop the road-name confusion.

Tom Harris and David Doll, members of Whitpain Residents Organization (WRO), want the road to revert to its original name, Blue Bell Road.

“We want to go old school and restore it,” said Harris.

He and Doll asked the Whitpain Board of Supervisors to change the road name back to its old name to stop confusion. Harris is collecting signatures from Penllyn-Blue Bell Pike residents for the name change.

Street signs vary as follows:

• “Penllyn Blue Bell Pk" at Township Line Road
• "Penllyn Pike" at Chatham Lane
• "Pen Blue Bell Pk" at Wyndrise Drive
•  "Penllyn Bluebell" at Stenton Avenue
• “Pen Bluebell Pk" at Hoover Road
• “Pen-Blue Bell Pk” at Skippack Pike
• "Penllyn Bluebell Pk" at Skippack Pike

WRO members are seeking the name change for the stretch from Township Line Road (south) to Stenton Avenue, which was originally Blue Bell Road.

Harris and Doll presented a petition to the board of supervisors stating “the current road name is inconsistent and unmanageable” for the following reasons:

• There are seven different street signs identifying the street.
• The name is too long to long to fit standard forms and computer fields, and it doesn’t even fit on most of the township’s street signs.
• Most people have difficulty spelling Penllyn.
• It has no historic value for our portion of road.
• It is confusing to introduce Penllyn, the name of a neighboring town, into our community.

Harris said Blue Bell Road was named in the 1700s, and was changed in the late 1970s. Whitpain and Lower Gwynedd Townships agreed to create a standard road name from Township Line Road (south) to Bethlehem Pike, he said.  

The petition states, “Lower Gwynedd never followed through with the agreement of the blended name change, thereby creating and perpetuating inconsistent street names between Township Line Road and Bethlehem Pike.

Whitpain Township Manager Roman Pronczak said a couple years ago the supervisors were asked to change the entire stretch of road from Township Line Road to Skippack Pike, but some businesses objected because letterheads would have to be changed.

With the current petition, the supervisors did not specify the amount of signatures needed to approve the name change, but Pronczak hopes signatures will be collected from 100 percent of the residents that would be affected.

A Penllyn-Blue Bell Pike resident, Chris Haugh, said, "I don't really care," if the road name is changed.  But, he said he did sign the petition for the name change.

A U.S. postal spokesperson did not return calls about what problems, if any,  may occur if the road name is changed.

After petition signatures are collected, they will be presented to the board of supervisors for restoration of the shorter, original road name.