Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
MORE PECO UPTOWN CONSTRUCTION
Go ahead. You deserve it. If you are an uptown merchant, diner or customer, you can groan just a little bit.
PECO will again be digging in the historic district. Part of Gay Street was fully shut down during business hours for PECO gas line work for much of 2018 and a portion of the street was also closed for installation of new water lines by AQUA in 2019.
Officials said it will not be a difficult, but at times, an inconvenient project.
Work hours have not been firmly established.
Scott Neumann, external affairs manager for Chester and York counties, said that “this is not our first rodeo” and no more than one traffic lane at a time will be shut down during the project. The work will cover two calendar years. Digging will start in the spring of 2020 and likely by Labor Day the electrical work will begin, north of Market Street. During 2021, work will start and finish on the south side of Market Street.
For 100 feet per day, digging workers will move along streets and sidewalks. The trenches will be covered by asphalt and the brickwork will be repaired.
Malcolm Johnstone, BID executive director, said that the $3.5 million project is much
needed.
“We look forward to improving the downtown infrastructure to ensure that the electrical power supports all of the businesses and is safe,” Johnstone said.
Mayor Dianne Herrin attended Wednesday’s PECO presentation at the Chester County Historical Society, along with about 40 business owners and concerned residents.
“We are grateful PECO is investing $3.5 million to replace almost the entire electrical system in our historic district,” Herrin said. “This upgrade is an absolute necessity for safety reasons.
“Good communications and construction management will be key to supporting businesses throughout the two phases of the project. Given that PECO is meeting with the business community several months before the project is slated to begin, we are off to a good start.”
Four miles of new cable, six miles of new conduit and 14 brand new manholes (the old ones will stay) will replace much of the infrastructure which is 50 to 70 years old, Casey Hensley, project engineer said. Transformers will also be replaced, negating possible fire hazards.
Cutovers, or stoppages of power, will cut electricity to businesses and residences for five to eight hours, one time for each.
“We want to get it done as quickly as possible … but there is no magic wand,” Neumann said. “The more exceptions you make, the longer it takes.
“We try to be as flexible as possible. We have to bite the bullet and get it done.”
Impacted streets include: Chestnut to Church, Prescott Alley from High to Church, from New to Walnut on Gay and Market Street from Brandywine to New.
High Street from Chestnut to Market will be impacted, Church from Chestnut to Gay, Darlington from Prescott to Gay and from Hanum Avenue to Gay Street on New.