SEPTA uses stimulus money to renovate
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
By: Elizabeth Fiedler
efiedler@whyy.org
The Philadelphia region's mass transit authority is using $25,000,000 dollars in stimulus money for renovations to two city subway stations. SEPTA's plans for fixing up the Spring Garden and Girard stations on the Broad Street line include concrete and platform restoration, artwork, and new stairs. The project is the first modernization of the stations since their original construction in the 1920s.
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Heading down into the Broad and Spring Garden Station, there's the faint smell of cleaning products in the air.
Frankford resident Ken Harris just rode in to go to the library. He says the renovations to the Spring Garden station are long overdue, but he says some North Philadelphia stops along the Broad Street line are worse.
SEPTA rider and Frankford resident Ken Harris
Harris: You'll see filth trash, bird droppings, human feces and everything at some neighborhood stations. So they basically do renovations where there's huge intersections like Broad and Spring Garden where there are a lot of state workers, city workers, people going into Center City.
A SEPTA spokesperson says the stations were chosen because they fit the federal requirement that construction start within 90 days, and that the project be completed within 18 months.