South St. bridge to be demolished, rebuilt

The South Street bridge will be torn down and rebuilt starting next year, officials say, forcing drivers and pedestrians to find other ways to cross the Schuylkill River for 18 months.

University administrators said they have already begun plans to accommodate the project, which is scheduled to begin in April 2007.

The $38 million initiative is intended to remedy the deterioration of the bridge, which has caused a number of temporary closures in the past, Penn Associate Director of City and Commonwealth Relations Dawn Maglicco said.

Maglicco added that for Penn the primary obstacle caused by the reconstruction will be maintaining an open pathway to the hospitals.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania "are very concerned about access, especially emergency access," Maglicco said.

"It will make access to campus a little difficult," Maglicco said. "But it's short-term inconvenience for long-term improvement. ... Big chunks keep falling off it, so it really needs to be rebuilt."

Penn Principal Planner Mark Kocent said the Facilities and Real Estate Department has hired a traffic consultant to look into methods that may mitigate potential jams.

The Facilities Department has also been in discussions with the city regarding an agreement to relocate a number of athletic fields adjacent to the bridge, including South Bower field, Kocent said.

Because the closing of the bridge will block access to Hollenback Center and the surrounding fields, officials also plan to build a pedestrian bridge that will allow students to get to these areas, he said.

"Our hope is that the [pedestrian] bridge will stay as a long-term improvement for students to go back and forth to the different fields down there," Kocent said.

He added that Penn may also run a shuttle service for students who need to get to the area late at night and for handicapped students.

Kocent said he does not think that student pedestrians will be greatly impacted overall by the bridge closing.

But City Councilman Frank Rizzo -- who is recommending measures to improve access to the Schuylkill Expressway during construction --said that he expects the construction project to be "very inconvenient."

"We ... wait to get to the point where we have to have a panic repair," Rizzo said. "Now, all of a sudden, we have to go on the fast track, and it will probably cost more money."

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