Walnut Street Bridge

The Walnut Street bridge that links Jenkintown and Abington is safe for commuters, according to PennDOT officials who inspected the bridge this week after a metal plate fell onto a moving SEPTA train Monday. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and SEPTA crews inspected the truss-type bridge after a metal plate struck the wires on the roof of a commuter train about 11:45 a.m. Monday. Jenkintown police at the scene said the incident sent metal debris into nearby back yards along Runnymede Avenue.

When George and Joe Pileggi's father opened Village Delicatessen on Jenkintown Road at the base of the Walnut Street Bridge, it was a great spot for business. But that was in 1963. Until the bridge closed for repairs in December 1995, 10,000 cars traveled the bridge every day and brought steady clientele from Glenside and Jenkintown to the delicatessen and variety store. Now, eight months later, it's another story for the second-generation owners. Those clients have been rerouted for two years because of the construction.

Like a circus that leaves town in the middle of the night, construction crews working on the Walnut Street Bridge took down the barricades yesterday, opened the bridge and left without a word. After having been closed for nearly two years, the new bridge was open to traffic and pedestrians by late afternoon, but almost no one knew. Orange detour signs still dot roads between Jenkintown and Abington. The public was not informed. Even local officials did not know until they got calls from the state Department of Transportation just hours before the reopening.

With the recently announced delays, Walnut Street Bridge construction managers have more critics than a quarterback on a Monday morning. But none is more colorful nor more vocal than Pete Mahoney, the self-appointed honorary project manager. The Jenkintown local visits the construction site nearly every day. "I used to walk the job twice a day - once in the morning and once in the afternoon," said Mahoney, a 66-year-old retiree from the construction business who lives down the street from the bridge.

The Italians have the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The British have the English Channel Tunnel. And Jenkintown and Abington residents have the Walnut Street Bridge. It's part of the political landscape. The work in progress - with all its twists and turns, engineering and bureaucratic intricacies - is either good or bad, depending on which side of the SEPTA tracks you're on. For example, state transportation officials announced this week that after two years of construction, the bridge may not reopen Sept.

You've heard of the Little Engine That Could? Well, this is the little bridge that won't. Officials have moved the date for the opening of the Walnut Street Bridge from Oct. 15 to the end of the month, contrary to statements made at a public meeting in August that the bridge would open by mid-October. The bridge has been closed for almost two years. Work on the span was to have been completed by Sept. 2, but was extended five weeks to allow for additional work proposed by Abington.

When state transportation officials told a mob of inconvenienced residents that the Walnut Street Bridge would be reopened on Sept. 2, it was the equivalent of a blood oath. Tonight, they'll explain how blood has turned to water - the $2.3 million bridge, almost two years in the making, probably won't open until October. PennDot says the bridge will be ready to go, but the opening will be delayed by an Abington Township culvert-building project. To the 10,000 commuters who once used the bridge each day, to the dozen merchants who have lost customers and to the nearby residents who have been listening to the sounds of cranes and drills for months, the time question is crucial.

Cyclists who say the Walnut Street Bridge's approach lanes are dangerous protested yesterday. Sue McNamara (foreground) was among those who want new lines to allow a wider right curb lane.

VALERIE Kukla-Webb dived into the Schuylkill to try to rescue a man who fell or jumped in Monday afternoon and got within a few feet of him before he disappeared beneath the river's murky surface. "I was probably about two strokes away," she said. "Then I looked back and he went under. " Police responded to call about a person in the water beneath the Walnut Street Bridge at 4:40 p.m. As police marine units tried searching for the man, Kukla-Webb and Jonathan Granoff , two passersby who jumped in to try to save him, climbed out of the water and said they couldn't find him. His body was pulled from the river about 6:30 p.m., police said.

Seven months of work on the Walnut Street Bridge Gateway Project are to begin Monday, the city announced Sunday. That means the north sidewalk and adjacent travel lane on the bridge over the Schuylkill will be closed starting Monday. The federally funded project involves Walnut Street from 23d to 30th Streets. Sidewalks will be widened and there will be improvements to lighting and signs. Bicyclists will be asked to detour the work area by taking 23d Street to Lombard Street to the South Street Bridge to 33d Street.

PHILADELPHIA Jury selection in death The trial of Frank Tepper, an off-duty cop who fatally shot a neighbor in November 2009, begins today in Common Pleas Court with jury selection. Tepper, 45, is charged with murder, possession of an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering another person. Tepper was being attacked in front of his Elkhart Street home before he shot William "Billy" Panas Jr., 21, defense attorney Fortunato Perri Jr. has said. Tepper, who has been fired, was described as a bully with a temper by some neighbors following Panas' slaying.

About 10 the other night, Chris McManus and Tim Wingert were hanging around the Walnut Street Bridge, staring at the top of the Peco building at 23d and Market Streets. A bridge away, on Market, James Simpson was doing the same thing. Up there, where ribbons of community-service text are the usual fare, were videos these three artists had created - newly liberated from their computers to become part of Peco's five-month "Art in the Air" exhibition, which employs the iconic crown lights atop its building.

NO USE denying it. Days are shorter. Nights are cooler. School supplies are already on special. You may not want to think about a return to full-day Fridays (let alone anything wool), but a fact's a fact: Summer has past its hump day. And, chances are, your summer-fun to-do list is still far from checked-off. Luckily, you have a couple weeks left to suck the juice out of August, and we know just how to get it done - without taking a vacation day or spending a dime. Start tomorrow night, in Rittenhouse Square.

After declaring last week that they were ending an effort to design architectural elements for the new South Street Bridge, Philadelphia officials reversed course and will extend the design deadline until September, Deputy Mayor Rina Cutler said yesterday. A pared-down bridge design was scheduled to be submitted to the Art Commission yesterday for final approval. But Cutler, the city's top transportation official, said she had decided to pull the $67.5 million project from the agenda once she had seen how the span would look without any architectural embellishment.

Harried commuters are braced for protracted delays as the long-awaited reconstruction of the South Street Bridge begins tomorrow, closing the historic span over the Schuylkill and necessitating detours expected to last two years. The 23,000 motorists and countless pedestrians and bicyclists who rely on the bridge daily to go between University City and Southwest Center City will have to use alternate routes because the 85-year-old bridge is "structurally deficient," inspectors say, and must be demolished and rebuilt.

Harried commuters are braced for protracted delays as the long-awaited reconstruction of the South Street Bridge begins tomorrow, closing the historic span over the Schuylkill and necessitating detours expected to last two years. The 23,000 motorists and countless pedestrians and bicyclists who rely on the bridge daily to go between University City and Southwest Center City will have to use alternate routes because the 85-year-old bridge is "structurally deficient," inspectors say, and must be demolished and rebuilt.

The South Street Bridge leaps across the Schuylkill in one straightforward bound, but the saga of its rebuilding has seen more twists than a mountain road. So watch out: There's another hairpin turn coming. Seven years after Philadelphia engineers first trotted out a misguided plan to replace the decaying, but dignified, structure with a soulless, interstate-grade speedway, they've finally agreed to discuss design. A public forum will be held March 6 and 8 at the Philadelphia School.

Acting as secret agents for the USDA, guests will help Tony the Tiger find the food pyramid stashed within the Amazing Maize Maze at Cherry-Crest Farm in Lancaster. Families can spend an entire afternoon weaving in and out of the corn rows, with nearly 2.5 miles of paths and scenic bridges. As they search for pieces of the puzzle, children will learn about healthful eating. Cherry-Crest features 15 acres of activities, including wagon rides, a giant hay chute, and a pumpkin slinger - all designed to celebrate farm life.