Just call it parking nirvana at 69th Street
It is one of the county icons, one of those things that fairly screams Delaware County. But for years commuters and others have screamed about something else when it comes to the
69th Street Transportation Center, referred to by most as simple the 69th Street Terminal. “Where do you park?” Now, after years of planning, SEPTA and Upper Darby Township are proposing an answer.
They gathered at the Upper Darby landmark Monday to announce plans for a parking garage with 431 glorious parking spaces. Another 89 slots will be constructed on a new surface lot.
It’s a day that’s been long coming, and long awaited by the thousands of commuters who regularly convene at the transit hub to make connections to head into the city on the Market Frankford Elevated Line, or to Norristown and points north.
No one knows that better than Jeff Knueppel. He’s SEPTA’s general manager, the man in charge of getting all those people safely and quickly into and out of the terminal. It’s no small task, with Knueppel acknowledging that 69th Street is a critical link in the region’s mass transit network.
“69th Street Transportation Center is a critical hub in SEPTA’s system,” Knueppel said, connecting tens of thousands of riders each day to employment, health care and other important destinations in Delaware County and Philadelphia.
More than 35,000 riders go through the terminal every weekday. Today they routinely joust for fewer than 200 parking spots at the terminal. That is about to end.
“The parking garage will help us meet the needs of our riders, and support local businesses and economic growth in the surrounding area.”
The $31 million project will be funded through the state via Act 89, a transportation package passed a couple of years ago. The project will feature a multi-story parking garage as well as new street-level berths for buses, an accessible walkway between terminals, new landscaping, improved safety and security systems and a pedestrian bridge that will connect the parking garage to the terminal.
Once completed, on-site parking at the transportation center will increase from the current 192 spaces to 540.
The garage will be built on top of and enclose the center’s south terminal bus and taxi berths.
No one had a bigger reason to smile at Monday’s ceremony than Upper Darby Mayor Tom Micozzie. He’s long pushed for improvements in the 69th Street business corridor, and has been able to pull off an impressive string of recent additions.
But parking has been a persistent thorn and impediment in that progression. As happy as Micozzie is to see daytime woes eased for commuters, he’s equally excited about the ability of the increased parking to lure people to the area and boost activity at night.
“This parking garage represents another major step forward for our ongoing efforts to rejuvenate the 69th Street Business District, while also making it easier for area residents to utilize public transit,” the mayor said.
Plans for the parking garage date back to 2009, and Micozzie’s first term as mayor, when it was merely a line item in the budget. The problem, as it always is, was funding.
Micozzie lauded the work of local legislators in passing what at the time was a fairly controversial - and costly - transportation package, which included increases in the gas tax. It generates about
$2.3 billion a year in revenue. The mayor called it “the most energizing development in this history of Pennsylvania.”
On hand with him were Upper Darby state Reps. Margo Davidson, D-164, and Jamie Santora,
R-163, along with state Sen. Tom McGarrigle, R-26, of Springfield.
“We’re seeing great results from it and we’re working together with bipartisanship to make Upper Darby great,” Micozzie said.
The parking garage is one of several SEPTA projects being financed with Act 89 transportation funds. The west terminal at 69th Street already has been refurbished and the replacement of the Crum Creek Viaduct on the Media/ Elwyn regional rail line also were done with Act 89 funds, as well as the project to update and refurbish the Secane train station.
The parking garage project is expected to break ground in 2019.
No doubt Micozzie and Knueppel can’t wait.
The same goes for riders, who have long complained about a mass transit center, a place that ideally will help in the goal of getting people out of their cars, that created headaches for riders looking to do that because of a lack of adequate parking.
That’s about to change.
It’s good for 69th Street. Good for riders.
And good for Upper Darby.