SEPTA Installs Elevators at City Hall Station

Septa will finally begin renovations to its City Hall station and Dilworth Plaza.  City Hall is the only station on the Market-Frankford Line to not offer access for the disabled, and the Broad Street line is well behind in that regard.  Septa riders will finally be getting these elevators thanks to a consent decree that ends a contentious lawsuit filed against SEPTA eight years ago.

The two elevators, which will lead from the Dilworth Plaza concourse to the east and west El platforms, will be installed as part of Center City's redesign of the City Hall courtyard.  SEPTA and Center City will also install two elevators from the courtyard to the concourse as part of the project, as well as elevators down to the 15th Street trolley platforms.  By the time Dilworth is remade, only the Broad Street Line portion of the station will lack elevators.

The elevators are scheduled for completion by the end of 2013, according to the concent decree, which was approved by U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter last week.  SEPTA will pay between $7 million and $10 million to install elevators from the street down to the concourse, which is part of a $100 million plan to reconstruct City Hall station.  The Center City project will cost $50 million and has received federal stimulus funding.  It will replace the current concrete plaza with a grassy area, improved amenities and a cafe.