Could the Broad Street Line Expand to the Navy Yard?
Say you work at Urban Outfitters HQ down at the Navy Yard, and for whatever reason you live in a cubicle at Philly Mag HQ at 1818 Market Street. Not such a bad commute, right? Straight shot down Broad, after all. Actually, it’s terrible. According to trusty Google Maps, that would take you 45 minutes. Way more from West Philly or Fishtown or wherever. Why? Because you’re walking 20 minutes from the stadium stop on the Broad Street Line, no matter whence you came.
Enter Bob Casey, who wants to end this lunacy once and for all.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey called yesterday for extending SEPTA’s Broad Street subway line into the Navy Yard, given the area’s dramatic rebirth as a sprawling office park that’s home to about 10,000 workers. Casey sent a letter to Brigid Hynes-Cherin, the Federal Transportation Agency’s (FTA) regional administrator, urging her to discuss the potential project with SEPTA, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 and the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades.
10,000 employees now do their business there. And while many of them take PIDC shuttles, everyone would welcome a straight shot down on the BSL. According to the Daily News, a 2007 economic impact study pegged the cost at $370 million. That study found that the expansion would attract 8,000 more regular riders. That was six years ago, though. The cost is more or less fixed, but the value is only increasing. Who better to really make this knowledge economy creative class thing happen than the un-related transit-mad Casey boys? [Daily News]
