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Philadelphia
Pike makeover
to get under way in spring
Delaware
Department of Transportation intends to begin the makeover of
Philadelphia Pike during the coming spring and complete the work
by the end of summer. Although two contiguous projects will
involve just resurfacing the roadway from 28th and Market
Streets in north Wilmington to the Interstate 495 interchange in
Claymont, the department will use striping paint to
significantly alter configuration of the pike between Harvey
Road and the Governor Printz Boulevard intersection. There the
present four 11-feet-wide travel lanes will be reduced to two
with a median lane for left turns from either direction. The
present width of the road's right-of-way, including shoulders,
will not be changed, but bicycle and parking lanes will be added
to each side.
What amounts to a
narrowing the busy highway is intended comply with the Claymont
renaissance movement's intent to create a 'walkable' town.
Several years in gestation, final plans presented at a public
'workshop' on Nov. 16 include redesign of the pike's
intersection with Commonwealth Avenue and providing for
extending Manor Avenue into the Darley Green development.
Meanwhile, a bid will be made to include money for preliminary
engineering of a new train station at the foot of Myrtle Avenue
in the state's fiscal 2012 capital spending legislation.
Although unlikely, moving ahead with that project without
interruption could result in the station being completed in
about five years, according to David Gula, senior partner with
the Wilmington Area Planning Council. |