December 22, 2005 Issue                                                

©2005 The Chestnut Hill Local

PennDOT takes over responsibility for paving

Responsibility for paving over the trolley tracks along Germantown Avenue from Gowen Avenue to Chresheim Valley Road has been turned over to PennDOT from SEPTA.

Paving began on Dec. 2.

Despite legal efforts to secure a temporary injunction, a fleet of orange and yellow vehicles assembled at dawn on Dec. 2 to pave over a portion of the longest street-running trolley line in the world.

Germantown Avenue is a state highway from Broad Street to Bethlehem Pike.

As such, PennDOT is responsible for the roadway surface and supporting base (the road foundation beneath the surface), but only in the areas outside of the track paving.

SEPTA has responsibility for the paving to 18 inches to the outside edge of the track (going toward the curb).

Thus, PennDOT effectively has the part of the road which is usually occupied by parking.

SEPTA paved over the rails on the section below Cresheim Valley Drive not quite to Gowen Avenue. This was in response to community and political concerns about pavement conditions. This doesn’t change the basic responsibility of who has what for what.

Things are the same as before, despite the tracks being paved over.

Bob Previdi, executive director of the Chestnut Hill Business Association, had been planning the Route 23 trolley from the Gorgas Lane turnout to the Top of the Hill when he joined the fight to prevent the pave-over.

He expressed surprise and disappointment with SEPTA’s action and the court’s decision to side with the transit authority.