Published in the Delaware County Daily Times, by Jeff Wolfe

January 24, 2014

Gov. Tom Corbett and several state and local legislators jammed into tiny Secane Station for a press conference Friday morning to announce the place is about to get a lot bigger.

Corbett and others envision a lot more space if they visit the station again in two or three years. Corbett and SEPTA officials were on hand to announce a major expansion of the station, which sits at the intersection of South Avenue and Providence Road.

The expansion is one of the first announced that will be directly funded by the state’s new transportation funding bill, which went into effect on Jan. 1 with about a nine-cent increase in the gas tax. The full effect of the gas tax, about 28 cents, will be phased in over five years.

“Today we are delivering on our promise and demonstrating that the benefits from transportation investment are happening quickly, impacting safety and putting people to work,” Corbett said. “This station is just one example of long-delayed projects that can finally move forward because of this legislation.”

The station’s first upgrade will include adding 60 parking spaces, meaning the station will have 100 spaces in all, with construction of the parking lot expansion expected to begin this spring.

Phase 2 of the station’s construction will begin in 2015 and include constructing a new station building, constructing new high level platforms, providing a pedestrian access tunnel between inbound and outbound platforms, new signage and lighting, crosswalk improvements, and also provide pedestrian access from Bishop Avenue, which intersects with Providence Road just north of the station.

In all, the project will cost $21 million and will provide another modern station that has ADA accessibility on the Media/Elwyn Regiona Rail Line, which runs through the heart of Delaware County and carries about 11,000 passengers per day.

This will be the second recent major station upgrade along the line as the Primos Station was completed in early 2013 at a cost of $8.3 million, the final SEPTA project that paid for with federal stimulus money.

(Jeff Wolfe, "Corbett hails expansion of Secane Station," Delaware County Daily Times, 1/24/14)