Shuttered to all but vandals and vagrants longer than it has been open to train commuters, the Depression-era Franklin Square station along the PATCO High Speed Line has drawn renewed interest among politicians and civic leaders.
New development activity in the vicinity of Franklin Square — one of four public parks that date to when William Penn designed a “Green Countrie Towne” — is cited for renewed interest in reopening a train station that has been shuttered since 1979.
“It’s clearly something that would help (commuters) on both sides of the river,” offered Meryl Levitz, chief executive officer of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation — an agency that promotes leisure travel in the area.
Delaware River Port Authority Chief Executive Officer John Matheussen said his staff is preparing a resolution for presentment at the agency’s January Finance Committee meeting to authorize spending upwards of $3.5 million to study the prospects of reopening the station.
The prospects of reopening the station has been a part of the DRPA’s capital wish list for some time. Funds to study the station’s possible reopening were allocated under an economic development pool within the DRPA — but laid dormant for several years.
That pool was drained in early December as the agency’s commissioners — frequently criticized for veering funds away from its core operation of maintaining four Delaware River bridges and the PATCO line — eliminated its economic development fund.
Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner, a DRPA commissioner by virtue of his elected office, said he feared the money set aside for the Franklin Square study would be shuffled to a non-transportation project. He is pushing for the resolution that Matheussen is having DRPA staff draft for both Franklin Square and a bicycle access ramp for the Benjamin Franklin Bridge walkway on the Camden side. Assuming it passes the finance committee, the resolution would go to the full DRPA commission.
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The cost of reopening Franklin Square is estimated at $14 million, Matheussen said. One issue that would have to be dealt with, he said, is complying for the Americans with Disabilities Act. An elevator from Race Street to the station below would be needed.
Despite being closed for going on 33 years, Matheussen sad the station itself “is not in bad shape.”
“A lot of the tiles (the ceramic tiles along the walls) are in good shape,” he said. There is graffiti to be cleaned and evidence the shuttered station has been used by those who have been able to avoid the train line’s electric third rail in order to find shelter.
As for such obstacles as needing an elevator, Matheussen said there is “nothing that cannot be overcome” in reopening the station.”
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But is it needed?
Franklin Square dates to 1936 as a train stop. It debuted as one of the two Philadelphia train stops along the Camden Bridge Line that provided train service between Camden and Philadelphia. It closed after World War II due to lack of patronage. It was reopened in 1953, according to DRPA archives, but then closed shortly afterwards — again due to a lack of patronage.
The DRPA — which debuted its PATCO line in 1968 — refurbished the station for the nation’s bicentennial in 1976. On July 4, 1976, some 23,000 people exited the station en route to bicentennial activities. Another 37,000 patrons used the station in the week to follow, according to the DRPA.
By 1979, patronage dropped to the point where the DRPA said it could save $46,000 by closing it and directing train patrons to the 8th and Market Street stop four blocks away.
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Matheussen noted that in recent years the National Constitution Center has opened across the street from Franklin Square and the square itself has been turned into a tourist attraction with miniature golf course and carousel.
“At Race and Fifth Street (a block away), there is the potential to put in retail and housing,” Matheussen said.
The re-envisioned Franklin Square has attracted 750,000 people for each of the past two years, said Cari Feiler Bender, spokeswoman for Historic Philadelphia Inc.
“The re-opening of the PATCO station at Franklin Square would be a huge leap forward in continuing to make the Square accessible for visitors from South Jersey as well as Center City,” said Amy Needle, president and CEO of Historic Philadelphia.
Levitz said Franklin Square on some weeks “comes up second on the most visited page” on her organization’s website.
Besides providing access to Franklin Square and the Constitution Center, a Franklin Square train stop would offer patrons accessibility to the city’s Chinatown section, Levitz suggested.
“We think it is a real South Jersey, Philly connector” to downtown cultural and entertainment activities, said Levitz, a New Jersey resident. Those living in the city’s Rittenhouse Square section could head east and South Jersey residents could park at a PATCO station near their home and venture into the city.
Steve Halvonik, a spokesman for Wagner, noted the DRPA had considered reopening Franklin Square a “legitimate” project. The resolution Matheussen’s staff is preparing will offer a chance to review the prospects, he said.
Jeffrey Nash, a Camden County freeholder who is also chair of the DRPA’s Finance Committee, said he had no opinion for or against any project.
His basic query, will be whether such a project is affordable “under the existing toll structure” the DRPA has for its bridges — which run in the black. The PATCO line requires a subsidy from bridge revenue.