Chestnut Hill : Development News

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey announced last Tuesday that Pennsylvania would receive $47 million in federal transit and infrastructure grants as part of the Federal Transit Administration's State of Good Repair program. As SEPTA updated its hybrid bus fleet two years ago, the lion's share of the funding went to Pittsburgh's Allegheny County Port Authority for a clean diesel fleet of their own. But SEPTA didn't come away empty handed, receiving $8.1 million for two infrastructure improvements a long time coming.

The first grant will revamp SEPTA's Parkside Bus Loop, helping reconnect this West Philly neighborhood. But the second, more universal improvement will aid in future upgrades. Using $6.4 million, SEPTA will install an asset management system to aid in record-keeping as many of Philadelphia's transit assets come up for repairs.

"A lot of our infrastructure dates back to the early 1900's and were taken over from other private companies," says SEPTA CFO Richard Burnfield. "What the FTA was trying to focus on is knowing what you have out there in the field before you can make an assessment as to what your overall needs are, coming up with a plan for when things should be replaced."

The system will help SEPTA keep better records so when funding is available, the authority can make a more organized, more compelling case for further federal dollars as the fleet is upgraded.

"Right now, we do a very good job of managing our assets so while the records are not as computerized as we'd like them to be, we have so much knowledge within our engineering staff that I feel we make excellent decisions," says Burnfield. "But I think this will help us going forward so we can do a second check on things as our staff reaches retirement."

Source: Richard Burnfield, SEPTA
Writer: John Steele

In science fiction novels and books about the future, a few technologies are boilerplate: flying cars, meals in pill form and the ability to teleport instantly from place to place. National commuter rail company Amtrak took another step toward teleportation on Tuesday with its announcement of a high-speed rail vision plan. In Tuesday's news conference from University City's 30th Street Station, with Governor Ed Rendell on hand, Amtrak officials laid out their goal to create a line with average speeds well over 130 mph, saving passengers between one and two hours on average.

"Amtrak is putting forward a bold vision of a realistic and attainable future that can revolutionize transportation, travel patterns and economic development in the Northeast for generations," says Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman.

The plan, entitled A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor, proposes a full build-out to be completed by 2040. Its construction, Amtrak says, would create more than 40,000 full-time jobs annually over a 25-year period, building new track, tunnels, bridges, stations, and other infrastructure. Predictably, the cost for such a project is high, $4.7 billion annually over 25 years. But Amtrak's feasibility studies peg the Northeast as a "mega-region" capable of drawing the type of rail traffic to make such an investment profitable. And with some premier legislative voices like New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg and Massachusetts' John Kerry already voicing their support, we may be teleporting out of 30th Street Station sooner than we think.

"Amtrak's High Speed Rail plan will create jobs, cut pollution and help us move towards a modern and reliable transportation system network in the Northeast," said Kerry in a recent statement. "As countries around the world continue to build out their transportation systems, we
cannot afford to fall further behind. This is an important down payment on the massive commitment necessary to bridge our infrastructure gap." 

Source: Joseph Boardman, Amtrak
Writer: John Steele

Over the last 121 years, Chestnut Hill's storied Morris Arboretum has made a name for itself with slow, mature growth, planting seeds that will blossom into some of the most beautiful plants in Philadelphia. This week, the arboretum begins a new kind of growth that, officials say, is a long time coming.

With the help of the University of Pennsylvania and private donors like Dorrance Hamilton of Campbell's Soup, arboretum officials dedicated a new $13 million horticultural center. Designed as an equipment storage center and research facility, the building is the first added to the John and Lydia Morris estate property since the arboretum was founded in 1889. Arboretum officials were able to fund the project earlier this year and sought LEED Platinum status, hoping to remain a leader in environmental policy for Philadelphia.

"For the first time, we can put our equipment under a roof and put our people into decent workspaces, a place where they have lockers and showers because before they were operating out of a mechanics garage," says Morris project manager Bob Anderson. "We host seminars and before we would have to host these offsite. We are glad to give support to our educational staff."

The focus on education was part of the original expansion proposal in place since 1982, when a wing of the arboretum facility was turned into a mechanic's garage. Morris officials have been searching for funding to build not only this new Horticultural Center but a fully-functional education facility, capable of hosting larger classes and seminars. This building dedication represents Phase One of what has since become a two-part project. When the second phase will begin, though, is still anyone's guess.

"We had the funding for this project in place two years ago before the economy went to heck, but the funding for Phase Two could be a little tougher to get," says Anderson. "Unless you know someone with a lot of money that wants to give us $17 million."

Source: Bob Anderson, Morris Arboretum
Writer: John Steele