Plan Philly: Engaging in Urban Dialogue

Inquirer: DRPA approves contract for Phila. light-rail studies

A waterfront rail line in Philadelphia moved closer to reality yesterday as the Delaware River Port Authority approved a $6.5 million contract for environmental studies and preliminary design.

The work, expected to take about two years, is to prepare the way for a proposed $500 million light-rail line in the middle of Columbus Boulevard between Pier 70 and Girard Avenue.

The line, which could be operated by SEPTA or PATCO, would be designed to improve transportation and spur development on the Philadelphia waterfront. It also would provide service between two casinos planned for the riverfront, Foxwoods to the south and SugarHouse to the north.

A similar $9 million contract was approved last year for preliminary design and environmental studies for a proposed $1.5 billion, 18-mile light-rail extension between Camden and Glassboro.

The Philadelphia trolleys could be running by 2016 if federal funding is available, port authority officials said. A Market Street light-rail line is proposed to connect the waterfront line to Center City.

The no-bid contract approved yesterday would allow the agency to pay up to $6.5 million to Parsons Brinckerhoff, the engineering firm that earlier was awarded a $750,000 contract to evaluate route proposals for the line.

In other business, the board approved a $1.6 million contract for repairs to rail switches, signals, and other equipment in PATCO's Lindenwold rail yard at the eastern end of the line. The contract went to the Railroad Construction Co. of South Jersey Inc. in Paulsboro.

Philadelphia lawyer Kenneth Trujillo resigned from the board, leaving a vacancy in the eight-member Pennsylvania delegation of the agency.

Trujillo, a former city solicitor and an assistant U.S. attorney, cited time conflicts caused by his new role as a member of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. His resignation was effective March 9.

In this week's Multimedia section of Philadelphia Weekly, Stephen Metzger posts a video about the Delaware riverfront, the many neighborhoods it touches and the variety of activities at the river's edge.  Rene Goodwin, board member for Pennsport Civic Association and Communications Director of the Central Delaware Advocacy Group, acts as the tour guide.  Notable sites include Penn's Landing, Yard's Brewery, Penn Treaty Park, Wood Street Steps, the SS United States and Johnny's Hots.

Philadelphia Weekly: Delaware Waterfront

Previous videos done by Metzger include profiles of Baltimore Avenue and Northern Liberties.

The Delaware River Waterfront Corp. is moving ahead with a project to connect the Race Street Pier to Center City.

The executive committee approved $95,000 to design a way of tying the pier, which will be undergoing substantial renovations, into the existing street grid.

The design work is being paid for with a grant from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, though the DRWC has final control over the project.

The DRWC isn’t sure what the actual construction costs will be — that number will depend on the design it’s presented with.

The committee wants to build the connector project in concert with the pier, so that both open at the same time, but a timeline on the connector project hasn’t been finalized yet.

The committee also approved construction of a new stage for the great plaza in Penn’s Landing, which will be big enough to hold the entire Philadelphia Orchestra.

A $302,218 contract was awarded to Light Action Inc. of New Castle, Del., that will cover construction and lighting equipment costs.

Live Nation Inc. will be providing ticketed programming at the plaza this summer, and money from that will be used to support the DRWC’s free summer arts programs.

Contact the reporter at campisi.anthony@gmail.com

Inquirer: Disputed dredging begins on the Delaware

The bitterly contested deepening of the Delaware River's shipping channel officially began at noon yesterday, in water near Delaware City, Del.

No fanfare marked the moment, no fireworks or ribbon-cutting.

To most observers, digging five feet deeper might have been indistinguishable from the routine maintenance dredging that has been going on for several weeks in that stretch of river, to keep the channel at its current 40-foot depth. But supporters and opponents of the controversial project seized the occasion to launch dueling media blitzes.

Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.), who in 1983 introduced the initial legislation to deepen the river ports to 45 feet, heralded the start of the 102.5-mile dredging in a conference call.

Yesterday, he said, he introduced a bill to amend the federal Mining Control and Reclamation Act so that federal funds may be used to transport dredge material taken from the river, after drying at federal sites, to abandoned coal mines in Northeastern Pennsylvania, including Hazleton.

Dredging opponents - led by Gov. Christie, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D., N.J.), and New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney (D., Gloucester) - stood next to the river at Red Bank Battlefield in Gloucester County and vowed to use every resource possible in the courts and in Congress to halt the six-year project.

"It makes no sense economically. It is dangerous environmentally," said Christie, joined by Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum and representatives of other environmental groups.

"There is no reason why, for a project that will have no positive effect on the economy for the state of New Jersey, that New Jersey should wind up being the repository for the dredge spoils that are going to be created," he said. "I simply don't buy the argument from the oil industry that this is going to be helpful to the economic situation in our region."

Andrews said he would battle to hold up future federal funding, and noted that President Obama's proposed spending plan for the coming fiscal year contained "zero dollars" for the dredging.

"We are going to work with our congressional delegation to keep it that way," Andrews said. "No earmarks, no additions, no pork projects going in for this."

Specter, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called it "customary" for the president's budget to lack funds for not-yet-started public-works projects.

"We will get whatever additional funding is needed," he said. "This program has the support of the administration. It has the support of the Department of Defense."