Notes from the underground: Dilworth Plaza renovation progressing

The massive renovation of Philadelphia City Hall’s front yard is a year old.

As Dilworth Plaza receives a massive makeover, a year into the project not much of the work is visible.

Paul Levy of the Center City District says a lot is being done underground to overhaul SEPTA’s infrastructure.

“We are not only improving the park and improving the plaza, but we are building a whole new concourse level,” Levy said. “We are working with SEPTA to make all the train lines accessible.

“So there is a tremendous amount of underground work bringing handicapped elevators down to platform levels, reconstructing the concourse level,” he said.

Levy says after removing the top of the plaza, workers have been digging and digging and digging some more.

“We’ve almost finished, the next two to three months we will have almost finished the excavation work working around the existing transit lines,” he said. “We are already installing new foundations.”

From there, Levy says, there’s no place to go but up — literally. Soon the work will be visible on a daily basis.