Traffic engineer Mark Bickerton of Pennoni & Associates shows Lansdale’s borough council a concept for upgrades along “Phase 2” of the borough’s planned East Main Street streetscape project, including new sidewalks, decorative lights and drainage inlets along Main east of Line Street along the frontage of Memorial Park, in 2020. (Credit: screenshot of online meeting)
Long-discussed project could start in summer, under budget
Lansdale’s long-discussed East Main streetscape project could go from plan to reality within weeks.
Bid results are back, and appear to have come in under budget for the long-discussed project to upgrade a lengthy stretch of Lansdale’s Main Street.
“You will see two motions coming out of committee for the East Main Street streetscape project. One is to Scott Building Corporation, in the amount of $3,199,280.75, which actually is about $400,000 under where we thought it would come in. So that’s very favorable,” said councilman BJ Breish.
The East Main Streetscape project has been on the drawing board since 2014, when the town secured roughly $3 million in grant funding for the project on the heels of two similar projects that upgraded utilities and replaced old sidewalks with new brick and pavers on downtown Main, Broad and Madison Streets in 2011-12, then along Wood and Vine Streets in 2013-14.
Over the next several years, plans were developed and refined to add similar sidewalks and utility upgrades running east along Main from Broad Street to just past the North Penn Commons complex near Highland Road.
Those plans were presented to council and the public in October 2020, then updated in summer 2021 and again that December. In 2022 the engineer reported that final designs have been reviewed and vetted by SEPTA and PennDOT for the two phases of the project, the first centered on the street running past the train station at Main Street to Broad and the second phase from Broad to Highland Road.
In early 2023, the engineers said the work would likely be delayed until early 2024 due to SEPTA gate replacement work at the Main Street crossing, and in January the borough’s traffic engineer reported that the project was ready to go out to bid, with construction possible in summer 2024.
On Wednesday night, Breish told council, the public works committee he chairs heard the results of those bids, passing on the recommendation to award the contract to Scott for full council approval later this month. A second motion was also voted ahead by the committee for full council action, for inspection services to monitor that project as work is done.
“The committee is unaware at this time exactly what the amount is on that. There is some question as to whether this project is going to require part-time inspection services, or fulltime inspection services. So we don’t delay this project, we did approve it, pending which one of those we need,” Breish said.
Early cost estimates are that the part time inspection services could cost roughly $152,000 and that fulltime inspection services would cost roughly $281,000, both of which would be less than the amount the project came in under budget. Of the roughly $3.2 million price tag for project construction, roughly $2.7 million would be covered by the grant funding, and the rest by borough matches from capital project funds, according to borough staff and MediaNews Group archives, with the inspection services likely not covered by the grant.
Council President Mary Fuller said she thought the lower than expected bid price was “awesome,” and asked if the inspection services were “something that was in our original plan and budget,” and borough Manager John Ernst said it was. Director of Community Development Jason Van Dame added that the final determination of fulltime or part time inspection services will depend in part on input from a major player in the project
“We’re waiting to hear back from SEPTA,” Van Dame said.
While a timeline on that project won’t be known until that bid is awarded, staff also warned of more work on Main Street, coming soon: SEPTA has notified the borough of a planned closure of Main Street at the town’s downtown rail crossing, scheduled for May 10 through 13, with specifics on timing likely to be publicized as those dates near.
“The SEPTA project is to replace the road bed in the train crossing, on West Main Street at the Lansdale train station, very similar to what they did here on Broad Street last fall,” Van Dame said.
Signage for detours will be in place during that closure, and drivers will be recommended to take Broad Street and Cannon Avenue north to Seventh Street to cross the tracks there, he added, with some local access possible during the closure.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on April 17 at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information visit www.Lansdale.org.
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