WOODBOURNE-GATE Officials in Middletown Township (Bucks) are threatening legal action over malfunctioning crossing gates on Woodbourne Rd at the R3 West Trenton/CSX rail crossing located north of Oxford Valley. A Middletown (Bucks) supervisor told the Courier-Times that the gates keep activating even when no train is passing through the station area. As a result, the township is has retained an attorney for a possible complaint against both SEPTA and CSX with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission. SEPTA claims that while CSX ownes the tracks between Neshaminy Falls and West Trenton, SEPTA repairs the crossing gates when it affects R3 service. Middletown (Bucks) Township Manager John Burke told the Courier-Times that he believes CSX owns the equipment, while CSX officials tell township officials that the gates are working properly. Somehow, I don't think that SEPTA Board Chairman/Radio Impresiaro/Turnpike Commissioner/Land Developer Extraordinaire (did I leave something out?) Pasquale T. Deon, Sr. isn't exactly going to be bragging about this matter to his buddies at Doylestown Courthouse.

MYSTERY DETOURS AND DELAYS Due to road paving along PA 252 between West Chester Pike and Gradyville Rd near the Marple/Newtown township line, the 118 may experience delays of between 5-10 minutes (as I found out the hard way today). Traffic on this stretch of 252 is reduced to one lane, with flaggers allowing only one direction of traffic through at a time. In Folcroft, a water main reconstruction project on Primos Av will force the 115 and 305 to detour via Sharon Av until late December. Gee, isn't it nice of SEPTA to let the public know about these things?

OUR LONG CITY AVE NIGHTMARE IS OVER PennDOT reports that the southbound ramp from Ridge Av to City Av/US 1 will reopen today (if it hasn't already). This marks the end of a long detour for the 9, 27, 38, 61X, 65, 124 and 125 via a northern access ramp off of Ridge Av. This should dramatically improve travel times on the above listed routes.