With repairs to the Holme Avenue Bridge complete, the Holme Circle Civic Association has turned its attention to the rest of the avenue, specifically, the Circle.

Serving three major roads and connecting the pockets of Winchester Park and Ashton, the Circle has seen better days. By PennDOT’s estimate, 40,000 vehicles pass through it everyday, prompting the HCCA to want a better impression form the neighborhood.

Talks of a beautification project began late last year when the bridge reopened, but HCCA members Joe Razler, Elsie Stevens and Mike Gould are now weighing their options for first steps.

“We haven’t set a fixed dollar amount yet to raise,” Gould told members. continue reading »

The re-opening of the Holme Avenue Bridge was one of the main discussion points at the October Holme Circle Civic Association meeting. Photo by Stephen Schultz.

The Holme Circle Civic Association held its annual “Meet the Candidates Night” during its monthly meeting on Wednesday at St. Jerome’s School Hall.

The local candidates in attendance were City Councilman Brian O’Neill and Democratic challenger Bill Rubin; Democratic at-large Councilman Jim Kenney represented by his aide, John DelRica; Republican candidates Denny O’Brien and Michael Untermeyer; and Republican candidate for City Commissioner Al Schmidt represented by his aide, Steven Boc. Each candidate was given five minutes to expound on their platforms culminating with questions from the 40 member audience. continue reading »

The Holme Avenue Bridge re-opened the afternoon of Oct. 25. Photo by Stephen Schultz

Months of work and detours culminated at 2 p.m. yesterday when the Holme Avenue Bridge re-opened.

Work on the Holme Circle bridge began earlier this year with partial lane closures, but by the end of June, both lanes on either side closed for good after PennDOT and Buckley Construction found structural deficiencies.

PennDOT assured Holme Circle residents the bridge would re-open by Christmas — a long time, given commuters hadn’t expected it, but far sooner than if repairs had continued with partial lane openings, as was the original plan. continue reading »

Seen here Sept. 28, the Holme Avenue Bridge is expected to reopen by the end of October.

Four months after closing and two months ahead of schedule, the Holme Avenue Bridge is expected to reopen by the end of October.

“October 31 if everything goes well,” PennDOT’s Harold Windisch specified.

Windisch brought the welcome news last night to the Holme Circle Civic Association meeting. More than 20 people attended to hear firsthand the news announced Monday on Facebook. continue reading »

Though it’s been more than “a week or so” since PennDOT said the new traffic lights at Ashton and Willits roads would be activated, the change has finally be made.

Left-turn lanes have been painted and green arrow lights have been installed to help keep traffic flowing during the Holme Avenue Bridge repairs. The bridge shut down unexpectedly in June, blocking off the chunk of Holme Avenue between the circle and Convent Avenue/Pennypack Street. continue reading »

A month after the Holme Avenue Bridge closed unexpectedly, residents and business owners are still handling the impromptu detours and increased traffic.

One of the busiest intersections, Ashton and Willits roads, has had new traffic lights installed to accommodate more lanes of traffic, but those lights remain dark and covered in plastic. We reached out to PennDOT to find out why.

“This was a time-saving measure so that once our traffic operation plans were finalized, the signals would be in place and ready to go,” Safety Press Officer Jennifer Robinson tells NEast Philly. “Due to the volume and complexity of traffic patterns in the area, our analysis of the revised traffic control plan has been taking a little longer.  Our signal experts have nearly completed their review, and we also are coordinating our plans with the city Streets Department.” continue reading »

Holmeburg, Holme Circle and Burholme are all derivatives of some sort of the Holme family of Philadelphia. They’re all also different neighborhoods in the Northeast, which has proven a difficult fact for Philadelphia’s larger media outlets to navigate around.

So when the Daily News picked up on the Holme Avenue Bridge closure story this week, it wasn’t too surprising when the neighborhood was called Holmesburg. Not a very helpful report from the Help Desk.

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What's left of the Holme Avenue Bridge as PennDOT works to repair it.

“The bridge failed.”

That’s the way PennDOT engineer Javier Salgveiro explained the recent closure of the Holme Avenue Bridge. Amid technical jargon about bridge decks, rebars and beams, Salgveiro, two other PennDOT employees and John Buckley of Buckley Construction explained why the bridge closed last Monday while crews were in the middle of repairs.

The topic brought about 40 people to last night’s Holme Circle Civic Association meeting, where the bridge was the only item on the agenda.

“Serious deterioration,” as seen in the photos below, means the bridge will be closed until Buckley and his crew can finish the repairs. The timeline is “before Christmas,” as Salgveiro put it. That’s the silver lining in what’s otherwise been a headache for residents as they navigate their way around the closure. Had the bridge remained open during repairs — as was originally planned — work would have gone on until mid-2012.
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UPDATE — The Holme Circle Civic Association will have a meeting June 29 at 7p.m. at St. Jerome School Hall to discuss the latest developments.

PennDOT has announced the closure of the Holme Avenue Bridge due to “serious deterioration.” The bridge will remain closed until work is completed later this year.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT)today announced that Holme Avenue will be closed and detoured betweenWillits Avenue and Route 1 (Roosevelt Boulevard) in Philadelphia beginning Monday afternoon at about 2 p.m. in connection with a bridge replacement project.
Construction began last November on this project, with one lane closed in each direction on the bridge.

However, the work has uncovered serious deterioration, including lengthy cracks in the deck and in a supporting abutment. For safety reasons, PennDOT’s contractor has stopped work and must fully close the bridge to traffic before proceeding with dismantling the current structure. continue reading »

Harold Windisch of PennDOT talks about the Holme Avenue Bridge.

John Buckley’s construction company has had $60,000 worth of small tools stolen in the last six weeks from its site on the Holme Avenue Bridge.

It’s one of many complaints coming out of the two-year project on the bridge, which PennDOT engineer Harold Windisch talked about at last night’s Holme Circle Civic Association meeting.

Buckley and his family are offering a $5,000 reward for tips leading to the return of the tools — a problem he says he’s never had in any other neighborhood.

Residents living near the bridge, who’ve come to see Buckley as an ally during the construction project, are outraged on his behalf, and at the traffic preventing them from safely accessing their homes. continue reading »