I think that it must be repaired, or risk losing beloved downtown businesses. Anyone who thinks of this as "no big deal" has never owned a business and/or doesn't appreciate what many of the businessed in Narberth bring to the Borough. Some are very strong members of the community- they do much more than simply plop their little stores down and open their doors each day.

Given that the bridge WILL be down for 12-15 months when it is replaced in 2014, how much of an impact will one more year (all of 2013) have? If 2 years of the bridge being closed will have such a bad effect, will 1 year have a similarly bad effect? Is there a way this effect can be quantified to compare it to the $300,000 it will cost to repair the bridge for about 1 year?

Would it be better to encourage all residents of Nar- and Near-berth to spend that $140 extra in town rather than spend it on a bridge that will be torn down in a little over a year?

I agree with Karin, the bridge should be repaired. What makes Narberth special is stores like Sweet Mabel. They are more than just businesses that come & go, as Karin said. For example, in the case of Sweet Mabel, they have generously offered to help the Narberth Area Garden Club in creating a mosaic we've designed for the children's garden for the Narberth Library. It that will go onto the outside of the Library building where the garden will be. Without Sweet Mabel, this would not be happening. Narberth businesses need that bridge or there will be no transportation over that area for 4 years or more! I can't agree that they should get used to it now. This is a rough economy & $140 per household is a small price to maintain a vibrant town with strong property values. The businesses are the ones paying the high price. It is the "end of the world" for them if they go under. And it could be the beginning of the end of the vibrant, special community of stores in Narberth. I don't think it's worth taking that chance. The borough has a responsibility to post the information about this dilemma in prominent places. I often see the Kiosk's with out-of-date info about meetings. There is no info on the Borough's website about the latest developments. The last update is from when they closed the bridge & it leads people to believe that the bridge will be repaired. Also, last night was the night of the first presidential debates, not the best night to have an important meeting.

To respond to Mike's point - it isn't only Narberth residents who shop in our town. We could all spend that $140, but truthfully, most people won't. They won't really think about it. The closed bridge prevents or deters people from coming in - Narbs and others. The holiday season coming up is vital for most businesses and although i don't know the time frame for the repair, the least the borough could do would be to make an active effort to support businesses during this difficult time. The Narberth Civic Association will help in any way we can to disseminate information and whatever else is needed that is within our purview. We could surely use more board members to assist in this process as well as other projects (hint, hint to anyone who'd like to contact me at correspondence@narberthcivic.org to learn more about it.) And one more point, a year of significantly slowed business can be a death blow to a small shop, especially when the economy has been so brutal. So yes, I think it would make a big difference. Maybe in a year the economy will improve and help them to weather the storm of the closure. Another factor to consider is that the bridge may take longer. That is common with construction projects. Not to mention the inconvenience and heavier traffic on Wynnewood Road for everyone. I'm not crazy about a tax increase, believe me, but it may be the lesser of 2 evils. I hope others and our businesses will communicate their thoughts on this important issue.

The big questions for me are:
How much is this affecting ALL businesses in town
How likely is it that we start demolition/construction on time?
How much of this issue is REALLY about traffic through the tunnel?

All local businesses should write a letter to Borough Council detailing -- with numbers -- how the bridge being closed has impacted their businesses this year. It would really help to make a decision. I'm sure the bridge closure is affecting everyone in some way, but I want to make sure it's affecting them enough to spend this much money, and if there's a way to mitigate the problem by adding traffic controls through the tunnel, I want to explore that too.

I am willing to pay $140 to have the bridge back, but it's a great responsibility to have to make that decision for everyone in town. I would much rather buy $140 extra in jewelry for my wife at Sweet Mabel than pay for a bridge that will be torn down before we finish paying for it.

What a rough choice council has to make. Speaking for myself, i would gladly cut a check for $140 or even a lot more to save the downtown Narberth businesses if it were that simple. If it was a simple question of borough council swallowing hard and paying up a $300,000 price tag to "save the downtown businesses," then I would say that's something that should be considered. However, is this really the question? There seems to be a real question about whether the repaired bridge will support the weight of even one car. Until the engineering study is done we do not know the chances of success for a $300,000 expenditure. Secondly, there's no telling what damage next year's (2013) bridge inspection may turn up, and may shut down the bridge yet again, requiring consideration of yet another repair. Lastly, as many others have pointed out, this 100-year-old bridge is on its last legs, and the cost of keeping the old bridge operating for up to one year is about the same total cost we were going to pay for the brand new bridge! There's something really screwy about that. [continued next comment]

Jim, I think you raise some excellent points and ideas. Can the bridge even be safely repaired and how long would that last? Can we speed up the process? I'd love to hear more on those very questions. Would the borough consider paying for an ad campaign for Narberth businesses and for new and better signage? Mike, are these things council could and would discuss? I agree that the businesses need to weigh in on this process, just as Tracy did. What creative fixes are there for this situation?

And Mike, I'm sure your wife would love that jewelry in any case...;-)

Mike—I’m not sure what experience you have with retail and marketing, but your suggestion of having each business send a financial impact note to council does not ring the cash register.
Retailers have new customers and repeat customers. Some retailers have daily and weekly customers, some quarterly or once a year. Some customers find out about stores through advertising, some are passer-by car and foot traffic. I could go on and on.

If you don’t want to spend the money, that’ fine. It is not for Borough Council to tell our retailers how to run their business. We should support them, but requiring them to give you short term sales numbers for a long term decision is not going to provide accurate information. There are many factors involved in a successful retail enterprise--being out of sight is one factor that certainly will harm the retailers.

As council people, we have to take in quantitative and qualitative information to determine the value of a decision like this. Fortunately, I’ve heard from and continue to hear from many residents of Narberth and Merion and from business owners.

I support fixing the bridge so all residents and neighbors of Narberth can continue to take advantage of our wonderful downtown.
Bob Wegbreit

We'll soon find out if it can be repaired to safely carry vehicular traffic. How long the repair will last is anyone's guess, though given past problems I would set the odds that the repair lasts for the full period until the bridge is replaced equal to the odds that the bridge replacement starts on time.

We would very much like to speed up the process, and we'll have to talk to our engineer who will talk to Amtrak and PennDOT to do that. We've already reached out to our state reps and federal rep and senator to see what they can do to put pressure on Amtrak and PennDOT.

The Borough would definitely spend money on an ad campaign/new and better signage/detour signs/traffic improvements/any other good ideas.

I think Jim Speer's comments are spot on and best frame the conversation. Let's remember that $300,000 is about 7% of Narberth's annual budget and this is an unbudgeted expenditure. Combine that with the fact that the structural engineer stated a tough winter could damage the bridge and force Narberth to close and consider repairs again in 2013. This bridge has the potential of becoming a moneypit until replacement takes place.
I love Sweet Mabel and its' owner, Tracy. I love the unique gifts that can't be found anywhere else, the American art practiced in the basement, the energy surrounding the store on a First Friday. I'm not convinced we can't find other ways to drive economic activity downtown and keep our commercial district thriving despite the bridge outage. We have yet to try to turn lemons into lemonade. $300,000 spent on traffic cops at the tunnel, on signage clearly mapping the workarounds to Haverford Ave from Montgomery, on holding a First Friday every Friday, on internet advertising, and a host of other ideas that creative folks in and around Narberth could devise to keep people coming to town. I find it difficult to believe that a fellow south-sider could be so inconvenienced about driving an extra 5 minutes as to want to take their shopping to Suburban Square or King of Prussia. How does that make sense?
I also would appreciate if a certain council member, Bob Wegbreit, would stop asking other council members and residents if they have retail experience.

I, for one, don't like to be talked down to, and the sniping above by Bob at Michael Alexander brings the discussion to a place we don't need to take it. One doesn't need to know how to fly a plane to know it needs fuel, wings and landing gear. It's reasonable to assume that a business could use more than anecdotal evidence of an inconvenienced customer to make their case. What's the seasonality of the business? If it's a retail gift shop, even re-opening by December 1st may already be too late. In my retail experience, we did nearly 70% of our revenue in the 10 weeks leading up to December 25th. We operated in the red through September every year. If that business had been interrupted for 6 of those 10 weeks, I'm not sure the business would have survived to the following October. And I think that enters into the thinking here. Are we too little too late? Are we throwing good money after bad? The Borough already spent $80,000 less than a year ago. It may spend $300,000 this year. That $380,000 is greater than the estimated $350,000 Narberth will spend to fully replace the bridge starting in 18 months.
Another way to look at this is: we're renting a bridge for $20,000/month. Spend 300k, re-open Dec 1st, and tear it down March 1, 2014 ($300,000/15).

An argument for replacement that is truly powerful is this: If the Q1 2014 deadline is vapor and replacement is delayed until 2015 or later, then patching it up might make sense.

I would like to see council take up these issues again and see what could be done to move up the new bridge and support the businesses, without spending $300,000 to do it. If a special meeting is needed, the Narberth Civic Association can help get the word out. Please let us know if we can be of service.

I would also add that I think everyone here cares enough about Narberth to put in time and effort responding and I appreciate that. We're all on the same team, despite any disagreements.

Spend the 300,000 on "BRANDING" the town of Narberth--Make people want to come to the town--an example of this would be Hampden, MD--

Create signs for the detour and BRAND Narberth to help support the businesses in town. Additionally--Branding narberth will increase property values--win win

I don't see a need to spend that sum on "branding". Since this raises taxes, that would not go over well, I'm sure. I would hope that the borough and the Narberth Business Association could work together to come up with some ideas to address the issues created by the bridge being out for so long without spending an enormous sum. If that kind of money were spent, it would be better to repair the bridge.

WOW--ok I see that deb takes things literally. Since every post is so concerned with the 300,000, I was merely trying to show an alternative thought process that moves things forward instead of debating and repeating the same thing over and over. Much like the debate I saw last night.

In response I would agree that spending 300,000 on a bridge that may or may not be fixed in the end is a bad idea---a simple cost-benefit analysis would show that. However, a sum of money should be spent to help support the Narberth Businesses--I was merely commenting that spending some money to help "brand" narberth would have multiple benefits to all parties concerned. I would rather the town focused on the BIG PICTURE---Take this opportunity and turn it into something positive for the future.

Brand Narberth to remind people why it is special.

ie. Widely marketing street festivals and increasing the frequency---Bringing in larger acts and events that would draw people from all over that have not been to Narberth before etc.

Focus on becoming one of the best small towns in America.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/The-20-Best-Small-Towns-in-America.html?c=y&page=2&navigation=next#IMAGES

Sorry Junior, hyperbole's not my style. This is, after all a serious conversation which affects the livelihood and lifestyle of people in the borough. Perhaps you'd like to share your true identity if you want to participate and be taken seriously.

Junion - I agree. If we're not going to fix the bridge we've got to find ways to help out our business core. Not to the tune of 300k, but still.

It's ludicrous that Boro Council continued to focus on the design aesthetics of a new "gateway" bridge while the current bridge remains unopened. The moment the bridge was declared unsafe (again), plans should have been made to repair it. That's where the focus should have been and still should be. The lack of bridge will kill Boro business, and without the downtown businesses, there is no Narberth. You'd be branding empty storefronts. If the priority is to protect Narberth, then we should bring in a pre-fab bridge and get this route opened. Otherwise, it's a bridge to Nowhere.

NB, demolishing and reconstructing a bridge over electrified train tracks owned by a federal agency is not as simple to accomplish as you suggest. Before this latest inspection that closed the bridge, we didn't have as much urgency as we do now. The design is almost final, but we will need to get approval from PennDOT, PA PUC and Amtrak (not to mention acquiring easements) before we can begin construction.

I don't have an opinion yet about the wisdom of spending $300,000 for temporary repairs to a bridge that will soon be demolished, but I do have some comments and questions.

I was a member of borough council when we hired Pennoni four or five years ago to design the bridge. I am aware of the complexities of having to deal with PennDOT, Amtrak, Septa, and the PUC, but can anyone explain why the design phase is taking so long? And related to that question is this one: what can council do to apply pressure on Pennoni to get the design done so that demolition and construction can begin?

Regarding the agencies that need to approve the new bridge, can our state and federal legislators persuade agencies such as PennDOT and Amtrak to expedite the bridge replacement project? (See Part Two below.)

Part Two.

Finally, what can be done to give relief to the downtown businesses? Again, I'm not sure if it makes sense to spend $300,000 on temporary repairs, but do these ideas merit research?

1. A temporary waiver of the business privilege tax. If I recall correctly, the BPT provides about $150,000 in annual revenue to the borough.

2. Free parking. I think the meters raise about $50,000 in annual revenue and that they generate a similar amount in parking fines.

3. Promote the use of the Septa lot on the south side of the tracks for weekend parking.

4. Signs. Not handmade signs with magic marker on cardboard, but professional, eye-catching signs to let people know the businesses are open and to tell everyone how to find us.

Whatever happens must be a joint effort of the borough and the business community, and with the holiday shopping season looming, it seems to me that it's not too soon to start figuring out how to reduce the impact of the bridge closure.

What has been taking so long? Why would a bridge design take 5 years? Since it's been known for awhile how old the bridge is and I believe it was recommended that council look at this situation awhile ago, how did we get to this point?

Lots of important discussion to be had. This may be a quick answer, but my question is - is it a 100% certainty that the Borough has to fund all of the $300,000 for the fix? To address an earlier position of "what is one more year closed to the businesses?" ... I would recommend the view of 12-15 months is barely tolerable for every business in the Narb and undoubtedly some business will close, "one more year" would render it a ghost town.

I would still like to understand why the bridge problem wasn't addressed in a more timely way. This understanding should inform future decisions so that Narberth and borough council can learn from the past. I personally think that the bridge design is important to keeping Narberth vibrant. An unattractive bridge we already have and if we're going to do this project, we need it to be functional and good-looking. I also doubt that any bridge could be put up in a week. Quality is important. I look forward to the meetings next week and seeing questions raised here addressed.

I asked why the new bridge has taken so long at our Council meeting on Monday. The answer I got is that this project has been in the works for about 9 years now, and when this project was begun it was expected to take this long.

There are NEPA studies (environmental reports) that need to be filed in addition to bridge design being approved by a host of agencies. Again, we cannot simply plop a prefab bridge down there because we would still have to get it approved by all these agencies and do the required NEPA studies (not to mention acquiring ROW and easements). The design is not holding us back right now. I reviewed some project status reports from Pennoni and they have been moving forward on schedule.

Remember that this bridge is next to a former coal yard that had huge oil tanks and there is contamination there that could very well need to be remediated.