Why On Earth Is This West Philly-Delco Road Still Closed?
It's been blocked off for more than a month. You can thank a golf course.
“Road Closed” signs on Lansdowne Avenue in West Philadelphia, on the border with Delco
The signs went up on Lansdowne Avenue in early February. You know, those digital boards that display messages to drivers passing by. The signs explained that the road would be closed from February 13th until March 13th. Nobody explained why this was happening. But, hey, roads close sometimes. And the throngs of people who were used to using Lansdowne Avenue every day were just going to be out of luck.
Well, March 13th came and went. Now we’re into April. And Lansdowne Avenue is still closed. You can blame a golf course.
There’s been much talk about all the money being poured into the restoration of Cobbs Creek Golf Course, a historically important course bridging West Philadelphia and Delco that fell into disrepair over the years. Tiger Woods is involved in the reimagined version of the course. It’s big news in the golf world. The plans even scored this feature in the New York Times last year.
Some of that money has been used to build a tunnel under Lansdowne Avenue so that golfers could go beneath the road instead of dodging cars to cross it, which is what they used to perilously do in the old version of Cobbs Creek. And that tunnel was what warranted the road closure.
Shortly after the road didn’t open on schedule and with no notice to the community of any kind, I started hearing from aggravated area residents who were complaining about the delay and the lack of communication about it. So I reached out to the local pols whose districts cover the golf course area, State Representative Morgan Cephas and City Councilperson Curtis Jones Jr., as well as the Philadelphia Streets Department.
A representative from the office of Jones got back to me, explaining that the permit for the road closure had been extended until March 24th, though it was unclear why. March 24th came and went. The road was still closed. So I reached out to those parties again. This time, a spokesperson for the Streets Department replied, stating that the permit had been extended until April 11th, basically one month after the road was originally suppose to have reopened.
The Streets Department spokesperson told me that all of the work on the tunnel had been completed but that an inspection needed to be performed by an engineer hired by the contractor “to ensure the structural integrity of the tunnel.” We certainly wouldn’t want a tunnel that lacks structural integrity. But I contacted the contractor in question to find out if such an inspection had even been scheduled, and no one replied to me. When I stopped over at the site and asked someone working there if the road was going to open anytime soon, he laughed and said, “You’re guess is as good as mine.” So if I were a betting man, I’m not sure I would bet on the road reopening on schedule. Or, on the new-new schedule, should I say. And keep in mind that no one is telling area residents about any of this. They are just telling me.
“It would be nice if they put the electronic sign back out and let people know what’s going on,” says Kara Lee, a Delco resident who uses (or used) Lansdowne Avenue daily to get to and from work. There are, of course, other options. But one has frequently been jammed with traffic due to the road closure, never mind the fact that it dumps you out near chaotic and congested 69th Street Station in the heart of Upper Darby. And the other road is just a very long way around, relative to the simplicity of using Lansdowne Avenue to get from West Philadelphia to Delco.
If controversy surrounding a Philadelphia golf course development sounds familiar to you, it could be because this has become a fun plot point in the current season of Abbott Elementary.
