Bully for you, Center City! PennDOT to resurface South Broad and Market Streets

Usually, a press releases sent at 5 P.M. on a Friday means bad news. Something embarrassing or sad, something you don’t want anyone to notice. The stuff you want to bury while everyone checks out for the weekend.

Usually.

PennDOT sent an unusual one late today: the Department will start resurfacing South Broad Street and Market Street next week.

Soon, driving and bicycling down the Avenue of the Arts won’t make you feel like your trapped in a jarring Egon Schiele painting. It might even be so calmingly smooth, it’ll feel like just another peaceful Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatt.

Work will take place on weeknights over the next three weeks. The roads will be milled first, then repaved after manhole covers are inspected and repaired (as necessary). PennDOT will repave South Broad Street from Washington Avenue to City Hall and Market Street from 30th Street to City Hall. 

From seven at night to five in the morning, expect travel restrictions and lots of traffic while construction is ongoing. 

These streets are part of the $13.4 million resurfacing project PlanPhilly wrote about last week; the project will now cover 24 miles of state routes running through Philadelphia.

Almost every story I have written for PlanPhilly about pavement gets a comment about the sorry state of Broad Street. Soon, those commenters will need to find something else to complain about.