– RECENTLY, I joined a group of business leaders and bipartisan elected officials – including U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, U.S. Reps. Bob Brady and Pat Meehan, state Sen. John Rafferty, state Rep. Bill Keller and Mayor-elect Jim Kenney – to announce funding for a new study to explore extending the Broad Street Line subway into the Navy Yard, a growing employment hub in Philadelphia. When was the last time so many Democrats and Republicans joined forces to support any project? The Navy Yard employs more than 11,000 at more than 140 firms, and PIDC has aggressive expansion plans in the coming decades.

The Navy Yard is the size of Center City, yet its full potential is limited by a lack of transportation infrastructure and inadequate parking in the absence of efficient public transportation. The studies required to advance this project may take longer than constructing the original line did in the 1920s, but we can’t afford to wait any longer to move this project forward. I urge our region’s business leaders and elected officials to make this important project a top priority and capitalize on the current momentum so we can get shovels in the ground as soon as possible.

John J. Dougherty

Business manager, IBEW Local 98

Source – http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20151118_Letters__Extend_subway_to_the_Navy_Yard.html#TP1TKBbo2jMc3I87.99