Ivan's damage could take two years to undo

Ivan's damage could take two years to undo
Delaware Canal bed needs dredging, and towpath and wall need fixing.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
By EDWARD SIEGER
The Express-Times

It's going to cost the state millions of dollars and take as long as two years to rebuild portions of the Delaware Canal State Park ravaged by the remnants of Hurricane Ivan.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in late 1988 began resurfacing the canal towpath from Easton to Bristol, Bucks County, department spokesman Terry Brady said. The work -- completed in spring 2004 -- was done in five sections at a cost of almost $4 million, he said.

"It's all pretty much gone now," Brady said.

Cleanup and restoration of the canal and towpath through Northampton and Bucks counties carries an estimated $9.2 million price tag, according to Eugene J. Comoss, director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' bureau of facility, design and construction. Repairing and rebuilding the roughly 15-mile stretch from Easton to the county line alone will cost about $5 million, he said.

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SEPTA wrapping up Bike Rack installation

New bike racks were spotted on buses from the Frontier Depot at the at the Norristown Transportation Center today. This means that SEPTA has fulfilled its promise to install bike racks on buses depot by depot.

With one exception, the 155 Neoplan Articulated buses (accordian buses) are getting bike racks as they are being overhauled, right now we think that about 50 of those bus have racks. Fortunately these buses are only run on select routes C, 6, 9, 22, 27, 33, 48, 54, 55, 60, 65

Local Bike Shop Leads Delco Greenway Effort

Maybe, a new bike shop in Havertown called Biketopia is trying to build local support to make the Newtown Square Branch into a greenway.
The Nine to ten mile right of way from Lansdowne to Newtown Square is mostly intact minus some bridges and road crossings. References to a future trail are in the Delaware County Draft Bicycle plan and the Lansdowne Area Comprehensive Plan
(Chapter 8 Page 28)

To support the development of the Newtown Square Branch Greenway contact Biketopia

Wachovia Race crowds Worry West Chester Officials: "WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) Times Leader - Somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 people are expected for a professional bicycle race planned for June, leaving officials trying to figure out how to handle the crowds.

'It's a pretty large-scale event in our downtown area,' Police Chief Scott Bohn said. 'That is a significant number of people in the downtown.'

Tim Phelps, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce of Greater West Chester, said he will be able to provide about 200 volunteers for the event.

The highlight of the event is a 45-mile men's professional race on June 11. That and other races are to be held on a 0.9-mile track circling around several downtown streets."

DVRPC May Conduct Bus Rapid Transit and Path Study for the Newtown Line

The Bucks County Planning Commission has applied to DVRPC's Transit Support Program Special Studies for $100K to look at the feasibility of Bus Rapid Transit along with a companion Multi-Use Path along SEPTA's Newtown Branch which has been idle for more than 20 years.

The study may or may not be approved by the commision this year because there are some competing projects. More details to follow.

Trail-A-Bike Recall

Products involved in the recall include the Adams Trail-a-bike and Slipstream products. The products are similar to a child bicycle but without front wheel and a frame that stretches forward. It attaches to an adult bike via a universal hitch coupling device that clamps to the seat post of the lead bicycle to create a tandem. We are including all models produced and sold under the Trail-a-bike and Slipstream brand name between 1996 and 2004. Model names include Starter, Folder, Shifter, Shocker, Ultimate Tandem, Deluxe Folder, Me 2 and Original. Products sold between $125 and $295 retail (USD). All units on the market are potentially affected.

Street Level Access Intact for Several More Weeks!

From Free the Schuylkill River Park Coalition

Despite 5 hours of oral arguments, CSX did not succeed in getting Federal Judge Bruce Kauffman to grant a preliminary injunction to barricade the fence openings at Race and Locust Streets. Judge Kauffman was unconvinced that CSX could show "irreparable harm", which is the standard for getting a preliminary injunction. From the moment Judge Kauffman sat down at the bench, he said what all of us have thought when presented with the facts of this situation, why can't warning devices be installed at the crossings? Wouldn't that satisfy public safety? He said to CSX and the City lawyers "Have you talked?"

About an hour into the hearing, he asked CSX and the City to take 15 minutes and consider agreeing to share the cost of installing warning devices at the two grade crossings. Judge Kauffman did what every local, state and federal elected official and all of us who have sent CSX countless emails have done: he asked CSX to be reasonable and find a pragmatic solution. City's lawyers went to find out if money could be found to help pay for the crossings. But, CSX's lawyers came back and like a broken record, said "no!"

At the end of five hours of testimony and arguments, Judge Kauffman said that he wanted to take some time before making a decision on the preliminary injunction. We think he wants to find a solution that satisfies the public's need for access and safety. He urged the City to put into writing anything else it wanted to say about alternative "effective barriers" (which is what the City agreed to erect in a 1979 agreement it made with CSX's predecessor). He gave the City a week to submit its "answer" and CSX a week to respond.

Although the Judge deferred making a decision on our motion to intervene, he did allow our lawyer, Janine Bauer, to see all the exhibits and asked the City to allow her to give input to the City's submission.

City Council President Anna Verna, Councilman Darrell Clarke and Councilman Jack Kelly all attended the hearing yesterday, as did State Representative Babette Josephs. We were grateful that they could take time out of their busy schedules and show the Judge how important this issue is to them. Many thanks to everyone else who came and sat through the hearing, especially our potential witnesses.

SEPTA and Montgomery County Complete a Tiny Piece of the Cross County Trail

As part of the Fort Washington Station Rehabilitation Project SEPTA and Montgomery County have paved a small section of the Cross County Trail through the station. By 2007 a twelve mile paved trail between the Schuylkill River Trail at Conshohocken and Fort Washington will be complete.

Meanwhile here is what you can expect in 2005 (from the Cross County Trail Website):

In 2005 the County expects to have the trail open from its connection to the Schuylkill River Trail in Conshohocken to Germantown Pike in Plymouth Meeting. Two small sections of trail need to be built for those connections to be made.

As development occurs in Conshohocken, the Keating Development Corporation will be building a new Cross County Trail connection to the existing Schuylkill River Trail at Elm Street. This will allow the Trail user to make a seamless connection (call it an interchange) for the Cross County Trail to Plymouth Meeting. In addition, the County will build a section between Elm Street and Brooke Road (with the help from the Larry Tornetta Building group.

Also in 2005 the small section between Metroplex and Germantown Pike will be built. Visitors will then be able to access the Plymouth Meeting area from the Schuylkill River Trail in Conshohocken.

Tom Hylton:"We could create a totally walkable school district,"

An Article in the Pottstown Mercury shows that once again Author/Pottstown Planning Commission Chairman Tom Hylton once again is leading the region by example with his proposal to build a new elementary school at a municipal parking lot o at the intersection of High and Evans streets.

This is not the first time that Hylton who is the author of the nationally acclaimed book Save our Lands, Save our Towns has shaken up the status quo in Pottstown, previously he proposed and implemented the most ambitious on-road bicycle related project in the region the High Street Road diet which replaced two travel lanes with bike lanes and reverse angle parking.

Pottstown may soon become a transportation nexus, the Montgomery County's Schuylkill River Trail is expected to link up with Berks County Thun Trail in 2008 and if funding can be found the Schuylkill Valley Metro will be running before 2010.