[PRCo] Fwd: [EastPennTraction] Fwd: Upper Darby, Pa. - SEPTA to remove LRT crossing gates

[Schneider Fred]

This is wonderful ... safety is less important than holding up  
motorists.   We must remove the gates at grade crossings because they  
are holding up the autos.   I think the writer for the Archie Bunker  
show had the write word for these people.... dingbats.
Any one out there want to make a wager on how soon SEPTA gets sued  
because a trolley hits a motorist and the lawyer says you should have  
removed the gates?   I think we need a pool here guys.

Fred Schneider

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Edward B. Havens" <edhavens at cox.net>
> Date: March 4, 2009 2:28:58 PM EST
> To: EastPennTraction at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [EastPennTraction] Fwd:  Upper Darby, Pa. - SEPTA to  
> remove LRT crossing gates
> Reply-To: EastPennTraction at yahoogroups.com
>
> --- In LRPPro at yahoogroups.com, "Edward B. Havens" <edhavens at ...>  
> wrote:
>
> Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority [SEPTA] has  
> decided to remove the crossing gates it installed with Pennsylvania  
> Department of Transportation [PennDOT] funding on the suburban  
> Route 101 light rail line to Media.
>
> HISTORY OF MEDIA CAR LINE
> Route 101 is the former Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Co. -  
> Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co. ("Red Arrow Lines")  
> trolley line to Media that was opened in 1913 after less than one  
> year of construction. At the time, the eastern and central portion  
> of Delaware County was sparsely settled and intersecting highway  
> traffic wasn't much of a problem. Suburban housing growth came in  
> the 1920s and again after World War II. Grade crossings along the  
> Red Arrow car line to Media were protected only with overhead  
> traffic signals:
> http://www.davesrailpix.com/pw/htm/ehps089.htm
>
> SAFETY TREATMENT OF DANGEROUS CROSSINGS
> One of the more dangerous crossings was Paper Mill Road at Smedley  
> Park where the motorman could not see autos approaching because of  
> the hillside:
> http://www.davesrailpix.com/pw/htm/ehps088.htm
> The PennDOT-funded crossing safety project provided flashers and  
> gates at Paper Mill Road:
> http://world.nycsubway.org/perl/show?24961
> Similar treatment was given to other major light rail - street or  
> highway crossings along the car line. Here is Drexelbrook along  
> Route 101 west of Drexel Hill Junction where Route 102-Sharon Hill  
> diverges:
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=765005
>
> CHANGE OF POLICY -- AT MORE TAXPAYER EXPENSE
> Now, according to Delaware County Daily Times, the crossing gates  
> will be removed. Here is the text:
>
> Trolley stop changes coming
> Photo caption:
> Springfield commissioners President Thomas Mahoney, left,  
> Commissioner Paul Wechsler and state Rep. William Adolph, R-165, of  
> Springfield, chat at the SEPTA trolley stop at Springfield and  
> Rolling roads.
>
> Wednesday, March 4, 2009 11:48 AM EST
> By John M. Roman, jroman at ...
>
> SPRINGFIELD — A new traffic control system at 10 SEPTA trolley  
> crossings — which would eliminate gates and help reduce lengthy  
> vehicle traffic backups — is expected to be installed by Sept. 1,  
> according to state Rep. William Adolph, R-165, Springfield.
>
> Following an outcry from motorists about backups on area roads,  
> significant changes will be made to help relieve congestion during  
> morning and evening rush hours, said Adolph, who brought attention  
> to the problem.
>
> Bidding on the project can take place in the next 30 days as a  
> result of funding from the federal economic stimulus package, he  
> said Tuesday.
>
> "In order to make sure any changes would be also safe, we had a  
> study done, conducted by an independent company, Gannett Fleming,"  
> which was completed last month, Adolph said. "And they came back  
> with the results that the current system was causing more problems  
> than helping and recommended a new system. It's the same system  
> that is in place now in Upper Darby."
>
> Known as the automated computerized traffic cop, the system  
> provides traffic lights and bar signals, but no gates, Adolph  
> pointed out.
>
> "The gates should never have been put up because they're for light  
> rail and not trolleys," he said. "For decades, we didn't have these  
> gates and there were no major traffic backups."
>
> The least traveled crossing, on Thomson Avenue, has had gates for  
> some time, but gates weren't installed at other busier crossings  
> until July and August of last year.
>
> These are: Woodland Avenue (Route 420) near the Richardson Middle  
> School; Leamy Avenue near the high school; Saxer Avenue near the  
> business district and St. Francis of Assisi Church; Springfield  
> Road near Rolling Road; and Scenic Road near Rolling Road.
>
> Springfield Road and Route 420 are major secondary roads for area  
> motorists.
>
> Another aspect of the new gated systems was that trolleys were  
> given "priority travel through Springfield," Adolph said.
>
> Instead of a trolley stopping for the roadway traffic signal, the  
> previous procedure, the warning gates are lowered and motorists  
> must wait for the trolley to leave the station. This has caused  
> frustrated motorists to turn on to side streets causing congestion.
>
> "What would happen is that certain times of the day more than one  
> trolley would pass because you have the Springfield Express, the  
> Media Local, so sometimes the cars on Woodland Avenue and  
> Springfield Road would be stopped, sometimes for more than two  
> intervals," he said.
>
> "(Motorists) would have to wait two intervals before the gates  
> would come back up and they would get a green light."
>
> Traffic sometimes would be backed up as far as a half mile on  
> Woodland Avenue, Springfield Road and Leamy Avenue, Adolph said.
>
> The situation arose from the trolley system, which currently has 10  
> crossing gates between Drexel Hill and Media, causing unnecessary  
> delays for area motorists.
>
> The new plan would revamp the trolley stations by eliminating the  
> gates and installing new smart technology to respond to traffic/ 
> trolley conflicts and provide a more efficient crossing operation.
>
> "By working together with our local township commissioners and  
> officials from both SEPTA and PennDOT, we have been able to resolve  
> a problem that has been plaguing area motorists for more than six  
> months," Adolph said.
>
> The new system will become a streamlined part of the traffic flow  
> in the township, "instead of a liability to other motorists making  
> their way to and from work," he said.
>
> SEPTA board member Thomas E. Babcock of Springfield said, "More  
> important than the removal of the crossing gates — which will be  
> reinstalled on the commuter rail system — is the fact that once  
> completed, we will have installed a true, state-of-the-art,  
> consistent traffic control system, similar to that being utilized  
> on the Upper Darby portion of the Route 101, as opposed to today,  
> where we have two different signalling systems for one line."
> [end text]
> Here is the story link:
> http://tinyurl.com/cvm8ru
> -----
> TRANSITION FROM TROLLEY TO LIGHT RAIL
> Routes 101-102 became light rail lines in the early 1980s after  
> pantograph-equipped LRVs were delivered to SEPTA by Kawasaki Heavy  
> Industries of Japan. Overhead on both former trolley lines was  
> reconfigured for pantograph operation. However, the original intent  
> to use catenary was dropped for cost reasons. As a result, the  
> somewhat heavy steel line poles only support simple trolley wire  
> for current collection. The distinction between "trolley" and  
> "light rail" is blurred locally because of the Red Arrow history.  
> So state Rep. state William Adolph, a Springfield Republican, is  
> quoted in the Delaware County Daily Times story as saying this:
> "'The gates should never have been put up because they're for light  
> rail and not trolleys,' he said. 'For decades, we didn't have these  
> gates and there were no major traffic backups.'"
> The Kawasaki cars, longer double-ended versions of SEPTA's City  
> Transit Division single-ended subway-surface cars, arrived in 1982,  
> replacing a motley assortment of trolleys inherited from Red Arrow  
> Lines, which was acquired by SEPTA in January 1970:
> http://www.davesrailpix.com/pw/htm/pw134.htm
>
> TEMPLATE FOR URBAN PLANNING
> Routes 101-102, known today as the Media-Sharon Hill Lines [MSHL],  
> were a template for contemporary light rail. After the 1950s, there  
> were few similar operations -- mostly reserved right of way but  
> with short sections of on-street rail operation. Boston's MTA  
> converted the Boston & Albany railroad track to fully reserved PCC  
> operation; Shaker Heights Rapid Transit in suburban Cleveland,  
> Ohio, also was reserved right of way but with intersecting street  
> and highway crossings:
> http://www.davesrailpix.com/shrt/htm/shrt033.htm
> So Media-Sharon Hill Lines was an close-by example of light rail  
> for transportation engineering Professor Vukan Vuchic of the  
> University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. He trained a generation  
> of urban planners, schooling them in the possibilities of light  
> rail for movement in passengers in urban and suburban settings.
>
> THE ROLE OF A. MERRITT TAYLOR
> For that, we can thank Philadelphia investment banker A. Merritt  
> Taylor who bought out the sleepy semi-rural P&WCT car line from  
> 63rd & Market at Philadelphia to West Chester, the county seat of  
> Chester County. He added the Ardmore Divison, still modeled after  
> country trolley lines, but adopted high engineering standards for  
> the Media and Sharon Hill lines with cuts and fills and impressive  
> bridge structures:
> http://www.davesrailpix.com/pw/htm/ehps102.htm
> As a result, his final additions to what became the Red Arrow Lines  
> outlasted all other reserved right of way lines in the Philadelphia  
> area except for the Philadelphia & Western which today is SEPTA  
> Route 100, the Norristown High Speed Line:
> http://world.nycsubway.org/perl/show?68571
>
> THE VANISHED PRIVATE RIGHT OF WAY
> Construction of other trolley lines operating over private right of  
> way in the Philadelphia region followed the terrain. Here, for  
> example, was Philadelphia Transportation Co.'s Chester Short Line  
> from City Hall to Chester, Pa.:
> http://www.ectma.org/hja_photos/hog015.jpg
> The track was buried in a carpet of weeds:
> http://www.ectma.org/hja_photos/hog016.jpg
> The right of way of the long suburban PTC Route 6 to Willow Grove  
> amusement park north of Philadelphia wasn't much better:
> http://www.ectma.org/hja_photos/pcc015.jpg
> It was converted to bus operation in June 1958 north of city line.
> Compare with the nearly-maintained, ballasted right of way of the  
> Media-Sharon Hill Lines in the days shortly after the transfer of  
> private ownership to a public transit authority:
> http://www.davesrailpix.com/pw/htm/ss024.htm
> Edward B. Havens
> Tucson, Ariz.
>
> --- End forwarded message ---
>
>
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