SEPTA garage to be open for snow parking
LANSDALE >> As the area continues to dig out from yet another snowstorm, Lansdale officials have brought two pieces of good news.
Residents without off-street parking will now be able to park in the town’s SEPTA parking garage, and borough crews will now begin plowing alleys, Borough Manager John Ernst announced Wednesday night.
“We have been working extremely hard over the past ten days with SEPTA, to coordinate the available use of the parking garage during our snow alert periods,” Ernst said.
“They have agreed to partner
with us, during our snow alerts, by allowing our residents to park their cars in the garage, for the period of time of the snow alerts, and for 24 hours past the lifting of that snow alert,” he said.
Since the season’s snowfalls began in January, borough officials have fielded complaints about tickets for drivers parked on snow emergency routes, a lack of parking for those who do not have driveways, and the plowing — or lack thereof — of roads and alleys around town.
In response, Ernst announced several new developments Wednesday night, including free parking in the SEPTA garage, effective when the snow emergency took effect at 6 a.m. Thursday.
“My understanding is that the garage will be open at the beginning of the snow alert, and at that time the exit gates, letting out of the garage, will also be in the up position, so that cars can be retrieved at any time during the snow alert,” Ernst said.
Once the snow alert is lifted, residents will have 24 hours to retrieve their cars from the garage, which was opened in 2017 and contains over 600 parking spots, but has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. The pedestrian bridge over the adjacent railroad tracks will be open, but the elevator to and from that bridge will not be operating.
“We anticipate that, if our snow alert has been lifted, then the plows have been through the neighborhoods, and the streets are cleared, and the ‘No parking’ side of the road have been cleared sufficiently to allow cars to go back to parking on the street,” Ernst said.
And on those streets, Ernst announced that borough plow crews will now be going beyond just main roads and side streets.
Alleys will be plowed only after the snow stops and once main and secondary roads have been cleared, according to the manager.
“We do this to make sure that emergency vehicles have safe access to the rear of the properties, whether it’s fire, electric department, or EMS” emergency responders, he said.
The alleys will be plowed with smaller trucks, and plows will be held just above the road surface so that stones and gravel are not pushed out into streets, causing further problems.
“Many times, when there’s a pothole, the truck drops into the pothole, and the plow drops with it. Consequently, coming out of the other side of the pothole, it scrapes dirt” and gravel onto the roadway, Ernst said, a situation drivers will try to avoid when plowing.
Results of the new plowing policy will be discussed by council’s public works committee during their March 3 meeting, including whether to change those policies for future storms.
Councilman Rich DiGregorio thanked the manager and staff for the SEPTA contact and plowing changes, and asked if any changes would be made to plowing of Madison Street, where new parking spaces perpendicular to the roadway have been plowed in and piled with snow in recent storms. Ernst answered that on the south side of that street, facing the Dresher Arcade and Well Crafted Brewing, signs have now been posted indicating no parking during snowstorms, which could free up those spaces for plowing.
“Hopefully we will have cooperation from those that were either parked there, or thinking of parking there, so during the duration of the storm we can at least plow out and deal with half of the Madison spaces,” he said.
“We will see how that experiment goes, and then hopefully once the storm is over, and those spaces are plowed out, we might attempt to plow the opposite side of Madison Street,” Ernst said.
Council President Denton Burnell added that he hoped those who live in apartments along Main and Madison streets will use the garage instead, to keep the street spaces free for plows.
“Ideally, that gives those folks a place to go, that their cars are safe and covered, and then once we can plow it, things can move freely through there,” he said.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 8:45 p.m. on March 3 with various committees starting at 6:15 p.m. and Public Works starting at 7:30 p.m., all online; for more information visit www.Lansdale.org.