Industrial Park

Bucks County's latest experiment in getting former welfare recipients to work started yesterday as the Bensalem Rush, a 15-passenger van, began making trips from Franklin Mills Mall to the Bridgewater Industrial Park on Byberry Road. Run jointly by two nonprofits, the Bucks County Transportation Management Agency and Bucks County Transport, the shuttle is the first of its kind in the county. "Eventually we want to get all the businesses in this park involved," said Bill Rickett, executive director of the Bucks County Transportation Management Agency.

Salem County officials yesterday announced plans to build an industrial park that is expected to bring up to 3,150 jobs to this rural township. The 1.8 million-square-foot facility - the first of its kind in Salem County - is to be built on 143 acres of farmland just off Interstate 295. Officials, who were unable to estimate when the facility will open, said it was expected to draw warehouse distribution and manufacturing companies and...

Gov. Whitman yesterday joined about 250 state and local officials and area businesspeople at the dedication of the Haines Industrial Center, a 700-acre industrial park that when complete may bring as many as 4,000 jobs to the area. "This complex is about new businesses and new jobs," Whitman said. The sprawling industrial park along Route 130 will have access to rails and is less than two miles from a new turnpike connection. The center will have warehouses, distribution centers, and some manufacturing that would be considered light industrial.

Well-traveled Ark Road, where about 500 homes will be constructed within a few years, will receive $972,000 in improvements this month. Burlington County officials want to widen a half-mile of the thoroughfare, between Marne Highway and Lindale Drive, to accommodate traffic that engineers expect to accompany growth in this well-to-do township of about 36,000 people. Although traffic can already be heavy on the route - 13,000 people use it daily on their way to busy Route 38 and Marne Highway or through town - there are no major traffic problems now, township officials said.

Representatives of the USX Industrial Park - an economic magnet that has attracted dozens of businesses and created hundreds of jobs here - last night announced another plan to expand the park. The expansion is a telling sign that financial good times in this working-class town of 35,000 will roll on. Eight new lots on more than 85 acres would be created and eventually leased out to private industries under a preliminary plan presented to the Board of Supervisors. "If we have seven new companies, each with an average of 50 new jobs, that's another 350 new jobs in the township," said Dennis McCartney, general manager of USX Realty.

Lee Hadfield said that when it rains, he can almost set his clock by when the next accident will hit Muhlbaier's Curve. "In almost a half-hour, 40 minutes, an accident will happen," said Hadfield, manager of Logan Liquors for a dozen years. At least 138 accidents and five deaths, including those of a Cape May woman and her two great-granddaughters on April 11, have occurred on that stretch of road since 1991. On that recent rainy Sunday afternoon, a car driven by Dolores Dambrosio, 68, slid into the opposing lane and collided with another car, killing her and the girls.

A developer has proposed a $7 million commercial complex south of the Keystone Industrial Park that could support up to 450 employees. Officials from Liberty Property Trust, the Malvern-based developer and property manager that built the Great Valley Corporate Center in Malvern, said the company wanted to build three commercial buildings at Grundys Lane and Newportville Road. They will submit plans to the Bucks County Planning Commission today, said Craig Cope, a Liberty marketing representative.

The Route 55 Industrial Center - the newest incarnation of the landmark site formerly known as the Anchor Hocking plant - will add a glass company to its list of tenants, bringing the center close to 50 percent occupancy and reviving a bit of local heritage, borough officials said. APG America Inc., an Atlantic County company that designs and assembles glass and windows for office buildings from Allentown, Pa., to Reston, Va., is expected to begin moving its headquarters and manufacturing operation to the borough from Egg Harbor Township today, said Tim Behr, head of the Glassboro Economic Development Corp.

Gov. Ridge joined Mayor Rendell and state, county and local officials yesterday in launching the creation of more than 26,000 acres of tax-free Keystone Opportunity Zones statewide. The ceremony took place at the McCaffery Village public housing development, a 22-acre Keystone zone where 350 units of old housing will soon be demolished. Taking its place will be 118 new public housing units, a shopping center and 36 privately owned houses. "We can go out to the rest of the world today and say, 'Come on in to Pennsylvania,' " Ridge said in the McCaffery Village community center.

He wasn't supposed to be there. Terry Bowers was already home from work for the night when the call came in shortly before 8 p.m. Friday. A co-worker needed help with a machine and Bowers, 48, a family man and tireless worker, barely hesitated before heading out the door. "Someone called him," his wife, Diane, said yesterday from the couple's Hanover Township home, just two miles from the blast site. Instead of waiting until morning, he decided to go back to work to fix it that night.