SEPTA Breaks Ground on Accessibility Project at Erie Station

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) leaders gathered recently with federal, state, and local officials and other stakeholders at the agency’s Broad Street Line [B] Erie Station to break ground on a new project that will make the station fully accessible and enhance modern amenities.

The Erie Station ADA Project is the first station accessibility project in the U.S. to advance to construction with funding from FTA’s All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP). Work will include the installation of a new elevator from street level to the station mezzanine and new elevators from the mezzanine to the northbound and southbound platforms.

“SEPTA is fully committed to making our vehicles and stations accessible to all, and ASAP funding is allowing us to accelerate our efforts to achieve that goal,” said SEPTA CEO and General Manager Leslie S. Richards. “We are grateful to our partners at the federal, state, and local levels for supporting our accessibility initiatives and helping to ensure that people of all abilities can fully utilize their transit system.”

Co-authored by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and enacted as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), ASAP provides funding for the oldest rail systems in the U.S. to make stations accessible to people with disabilities.

“More than 30 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the infrastructure law is helping to fulfill its promise to build a more accessible world for the people of Southeastern Pennsylvania,” said Sen. Casey. “I fought for funding to make our public transit systems accessible to people with disabilities and I am not at all surprised that SEPTA is the very first in the nation to break ground on renovations funded by my All Stations Accessibility Program.”

The Erie Station ADA Project is one of six SEPTA station accessibility projects that will be supported by ASAP funding. In December 2022, SEPTA was awarded $56 million through the first round of ASAP grant funding to support ADA projects at five Broad Street Line [B] stations, including Erie, and one Market-Frankford Line [L] station.

In addition to the new elevators, other planned improvements include reconstructed cashier booth and fare lines, stairway and entrance improvements and platform modifications, new lighting and other electrical improvements, enhanced security features including ADA-compliant communications system upgrades with emergency call boxes and HD security cameras, new station architectural finishes, and drainage and waterproofing improvements.

The Erie Station ADA Project is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2026.