Obama visit should tie up afternoon commute

Comcast executive David L. Cohen (right) -- shown in December with Pennsylvania Governor-elect Tom Corbett and wife Susan Corbett -- was scheduled to host an Obama fund-raiser on June 30, 2011. (ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer)

By Peter Mucha, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: June 30, 2011

President Obama's visit for area fund-raisers could complicate the afternoon rush, first between the airport and Center City, then between Center City and Mount Airy.

GOP challenger Mitt Romney also is quietly in town this morning for private fund-raisers - without side-effects for motorists - before heading to a public event in Allentown this afternoon.

Obama is scheduled to arrive at Philadelphia International Airport at 4:15, according to the White House. The motorcade is likely to head up I-95 on its way to a reception at the Hyatt at the Bellevue, a few blocks south of City Hall on Broad Street.

I-95 will also see extra volume after the Phillies-Red Sox game, which starts at 1:30 p.m., so finding alternative routes might be smart in late afternoon.

Next, the presidential motorcade will head for a 5:30 p.m. big-ticket fund-raiser at the Mount Airy home of David Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president and a Democratic mahoff.

A third Democratic National Committee event is set for 8:30 p.m., and the president's flight back to Andrews Air Force Base should take off about 9:50 p.m., according to the White House.

Romney's schedule included an 8:30 a.m. breakfast at the Cira Centre, and a noon luncheon at the Union League on South Broad Street.

His major photo op, though, will be afternoon remarks at the closed Allentown Metal Works about the unemployement problem. The president spoke there about jobs in October 2009, but a dozen workers lost theirs when the plant shut earlier this year.

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Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.

Inquirer politics writer Thomas Fitzgerald and the Associated Press contributed to this article.