Cresheim Valley Drive repairs on hold

Without federal aid, the key route to Lincoln Drive will stay closed

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

Damaged by heavy rains last month, Cresheim Valley Drive has been closed since Aug. 3. Without emergency federal aid, the road is likely to remain in its current condition until next year.

"We don't have the money to fix it," said Joseph Syrnick, the city's chief engineer and surveyor. A Streets Department estimate places the repair cost at $800,000. "For us, that's a lot," he said.

A half-mile stretch of the road between Germantown Avenue and Lincoln Drive was damaged on Aug. 1 when the area was deluged with 4 to 5 inches of rain. Flooding eroded the adjacent stream bank and “ate into the roadway,” Syrnick said, cracking the asphalt and depressing portions of the road.

The road, a popular route for both Chestnut Hill and Montgomery County commuters into Center City, was scheduled to be resurfaced next year.

The Cresheim Valley closure has placed a burden on Willow Grove Avenue, among other residential streets, as motorists seek alternatives on their weekday commute. Bob Previdi, one of many Hill neighbors seeking a traffic study from the city, told the Local last month that traffic problems near the intersection of Ardleigh Street and Willow Grove Avenue had worsened since the closure.

Though Cresheim Valley, a city street, qualifies for assistance under the federal aid highway system, Syrnick said, those resources are earmarked for capital improvements like resurfacing.

While the city has petitioned the state for emergency relief, he said, whether Philadelphia has met the financial threshold for county damage remains unclear.

In an interview last Thursday, Syrnick said Gov. Rendell had requested federal assistance and that the city was awaiting a response.

But representatives of both the Governor’s Office and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) told the Local last Friday that public assistance has not yet been requested.

Since Pennsylvania does not have a state disaster assistance program, the state must look to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for relief, said PEMA spokesperson Maria Smith.

But before a formal request to FEMA can be issued, Smith said, the figures in Philadelphia’s damage assessment report, which some found questionable, must pass further scrutiny. “We need to reexamine the numbers,” she said. While specific details from the city's report were not available at press time, Smith indicated the damage would not surpass FEMA's $13 million threshold for public assistance.

So far, the only official action taken on the issue occurred earlier this month when PEMA asked FEMA to open the incident period for the damage. If granted, the request would allow for the inclusion of additional counties impacted by the August storm system, and possibly push the combined damage above the federal threshold for relief. FEMA has not replied, she said.

While no one would commit to a timeline, both city and state officials said it could be a long process, further slowed by the onslaught of Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan across the South. When Ivan's remnants swept through Pennsylvania last week Gov. Rendell requested federal disaster aid for 34 of the state's counties. Philadelphia was not on the list.

The closure of a major Hill artery with no fix in sight is hardly news to those in the community who suffered the decade-long repair of the embattled Germantown Avenue Bridge.

"We understand this is an important road," Syrnick said. "We don't like to have any roads closed. Hopefully, we'll get the emergency money. Without it, the road could be sitting like it is for some time."

If state or federal relief doesn't materialize, Syrnick said the Streets Department would likely place protective barriers around washed out areas to accommodate one-, or possibly two lanes of traffic.