The long-awaited extension of Lansdale’s streetscape improvement project is about to roll out — with a slight detour from East Main Street to encompass the congested, often-confusing SEPTA station area around West Main and Madison Streets.
Engineers from Pennoni Associates gave Lansdale Borough Council Wednesday the latest look and timeline for the eastern portion of the streetscape project, which remade walkways along the western stretch of downtown Main Street nearly 10 years ago.
The plans now include pedestrian improvements at the intersection of SEPTA’s track crossings, bus transit depot, Madison Street, Railroad Avenue and the new Liberty Bell trail.
Improvements at SEPTA Station
"The way the train tracks cross Main Street, with a skewed angle and multiple sets of tracks spread out over 150 feet, is an unusual scenario,” said project engineer Mark Bickerton, explaining that negotiations are underway with both PennDOT and SEPTA.
"All the agencies recognize the challenge in this intersection,” he said. "This project’s main focus is to make some pedestrian improvements and hopefully get it cleaned up.”
Plans include a direct pedestrian crossing for Liberty Bell Trail hikers and bus-to-train commuters, and the addition of defined, brick-patterned sidewalks on the south side of Main Street crossing the tracks, where there is currently no sidewalk. And SEPTA, Bickerton said, is looking for a well-marked "dynamic envelope,” crosshatch street markings to warn motorists of the danger zone around the tracks.
Mayor Garry Herbert asked Bickerton whether drop gates would be included to keep pedestrians from crossing as trains approached. "We’ve been working with SEPTA very closely on that, but unfortunately those gates are very expensive,” Bickerton responded. While SEPTA would ultimately make the decision (and pay the six-figure cost), "It’s not part of the scope of this phase of the project. But SEPTA wants to get new gates in, and we want to put a combination of junction boxes and conduits out there for them, so this doesn’t have to get ripped up again.”
Streetscape Along East Main Upgraded
The original East Main Streetscape portion is being viewed as a separate piece of the puzzle, with its own contracting and timeline. Stretching from Broad Street along Main east to Highland Avenue near North Penn Commons, it also is being viewed as two separate areas — the urban-feel commercial area closer to the center of town, and a more suburban, residential stretch from Line Street east.
From Broad to Line, "The businesses and residences are much closer together, and tend to be closer to the street and sidewalk, so we thought there was a prescribed solution that would fit that urban need,” Bickerton said. East of Line "is characterized by buildings that are further spaced, set back significantly from the road and sidewalk, and you have a nice old-growth tree canopy.”
In the urban area, characteristics from the previous streetscape will be continued, with a brick "furnishing zone” along the edge, and stamped asphalt crosswalks with bluestone pavers. The suburban section will be more traditional, with standardized curb heights and unified sidewalks.
Streetlighting will be included in strategic locations, Bickerton said, including the stretch along Memorial Park, and much-needed storm drains and underground utility access will be added.
And Main Street commuters may be heartened to learn that plans call for the extension of the left turn lane from Main Street westbound onto South Broad.
"That left turn lane goes almost to the center of the block today, and we’re proposing to extend it all the way to Chestnut,” Bickerton said. "We think that will improve the efficiency of the traffic signal at Main and Broad by getting some of those left-turn vehicles out of the through right lane, and will also help with ‘lane jumping,’ where someone is stuck in back and sees there are only three cars in the left turn lane and goes into the opposing lane to sneak around and get to the light.”
Pennoni hopes to start filing for permits and approvals from late winter into mid-spring of 2021, with bidding to follow and construction running through fall 2022. The SEPTA and East Main phases will be bid and contracted separately for efficiency, with the railroad piece costing just shy of $300,000 and the streetscape improvements budgeted at about $3 million.
Total budget with inspections and testing fees is about $3.5 million, with state grants covering $2.7 million of the cost and Lansdale supplying a 30% match at about $800,000. The grant was originally secured in late 2014.
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