61st and Pine Bus Loop Reconstruction project (Image courtesy SEPTA)

61st and Pine Bus Loop

Today, SEPTA along with local officials and neighborhood leaders broke ground on the reconstruction of the 61st and Pine Bus Loop, a key transit hub in West Philadelphia. The 61st and Pine Bus Loop is a terminus point for the Route 42 bus, one of SEPTA’s busiest with an average daily ridership of nearly 13,000. The $1.8 million capital improvement project is expected to be completed in Spring 2017.

The project will result in a number of improvements, including:

• A new driveway, new curbs and a new passenger boarding platform that are accessible and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Installation of energy efficient lighting and improved security features
• Construction of an open-air passenger waiting shelter
• Installation of site amenities including trash cans, bike racks and fencing
• Landscaping of the site; new signage throughout the facility

During construction, the Route 42 will continue to serve passengers at 61st and Pine. Buses will utilize portions of 61st Street and Pine Street when necessary to accommodate the work.

The 61st and Pine Bus Loop project is part of the overall “Rebuilding the SEPTA System” capital improvement plan.

Shuttle buses will substitute all Route 11 and Route 36 trolleys west of 40th Street on Sunday, May 22 through 4 a.m. Monday, May 23 and Sunday, June 5 through 4 a.m. Monday, June 6. Route 11 bus substitution will be between Darby Transportation Center and 40th St. Portal, and Route 36 will have shuttle buses running between 80th St. and Eastwick Ave. and 40th St. Portal.

Passengers should transfer to Bus/Trolley at 40th St. Portal for service to/from Center City during this time.

The reason for this temporary trolley service interruption, which began last weekend, is an overhead wire maintenance and renewal project at 49th St. & Woodland Ave, according to SEPTA.

It’s this time of year again when Penn students are leaving their dorms in a big two-day move-out event, which prompts the closure of a large section of Spruce Street to all traffic except for emergency vehicles. Here’s a traffic advisory for this Tuesday and Wednesday from Penn’s Public Safety Division:

“Spruce Street will be closed between 34th and 40th Streets on Tuesday, May 10th and Wednesday, May 11th between 7 a.m.-8 p.m. for student move-out.

No taxi cabs will be permitted access. Vendors will be permitted access to enter the street prior to the 7 a.m. street closure. Bikes will need to be walked on Spruce Street while the streets are closed to traffic. Septa Route 42 will be re-routed. Emergency vehicles and hospital patient transport vehicles will be permitted access. Access will be provided to the Ryan Vet Hospital.

During this street closure: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Wistar Institute and Ryan Vet Hospital deliveries will be allowed to enter Spruce Street at 38th Street. Garage 14 will be open and accessible throughout move-out.”

Indego bike share station in Clark Park (archived photo).

Philly’s bike-share program Indego celebrated its first birthday this week by announcing a couple dozen more docking stations around the city, including a few in West Philly. The program also introduced new rates and ways for low-income residents to pay for the service and a snappy new app.

New docking stations will be located near 34th and Mantua, 42nd and Lancaster and 46th and Market. Indego will also start accepting Pennsylvania ACCESS cards and offer an unlimited number of one-hour rides for 30 days for $5 – down from $15. The new rates should widen the availability of the program, something Indego officials had hoped for when the program began.

The program’s new app will allow riders to find stations, check on bike availability, renew membership passes and search trip history.

Indego has been very popular over the past year, logging about 420,000 rides and more than 8,000 memberships.

UPDATE (Fri, Apr. 22): Beginning Friday, Apr. 22 at 11:00 p.m., Routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36 Trolleys will operate on a temporary diversion to allow for repairs and inspection to the Trolley Tunnel. Regularly scheduled trolley service will resume at the start of the service day Monday, Apr. 25, 2016.

Many people were wondering why trolleys were running above ground over Spruce to 40th Street today (Thursday). It turns out SEPTA had to divert Routes 11, 13, 34 and 36 to 40th and Market Streets due to continuous repairs of overhead wires in the tunnel. Wire repair work in the tunnel will continue overnight and possibly on Friday. Here’s more information from SEPTA:

“Service disruptions on the Trolley network (Routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36) have been occurring with increasing frequency in recent weeks. Despite the best efforts of our maintenance forces in the limited work windows afforded to them, overhead wire conditions in the Trolley Tunnel continue to worsen and have created this reliability issue.  Continue Reading

Demolition of the deteriorating 41st Street Bridge, which began last summer, has reached its final stage. Work began on Sunday, April 17 to remove the existing bridge piers adjacent to the Amtrak tracks. This work will run through the end of the month from Sunday through Thursday during the overnight hours of 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. to avoid interruption of Amtrak’s rail line. Most of the demolition activities will occur between 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., during Amtrak’s power and train outages.

New 41st Street Bridge rendering.

Demolition of the bridge, which connects Mantua Avenue and Poplar Street over Amtrak railway, is part of the $10.8 million 41st Street Bridge replacement project. Starting Sunday night, May 1, the contractor, Loftus Construction, Inc., will begin to erect the structural steel for the new bridge. This work will also occur during overnight hours on Sunday through Thursday. Steel beam erection is expected to be completed by mid-June.

The new bridge will be a two-span, continuous structure with architectural concrete parapets and fencing, according to the Streets Department. The proposed roadway will include two travel lanes with wide shoulders and sidewalks, new street lighting, signing, line striping, ADA curb ramps, and enhanced safety features, such as the realignment of the Mantua Avenue and 41st Street intersection.

The new bridge is expected to open by the end of 2016.