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Committee reviews revised Gay Street closure bid; engineers describe bollard and wedge options
Summary
West Chester Borough Public Works Committee members reviewed a revised bid package for closing Gay Street and heard engineers describe bollard, wedge and alternate device options required to meet crash‑safety and emergency‑access criteria.
West Chester Borough Public Works Committee members reviewed a revised bid package for the Gay Street closure and discussed technical requirements for proposed security devices. Kelly Goff, a consulting engineer with RVE, said the package focuses work on the Matlak and Darlington intersections, includes High Street improvements as an add‑alternate, and will be posted publicly on a bidding platform next week.
Goff said bidders will be required to meet crash‑safety and clearance criteria established with the police department and the Department of Homeland Security. “Each option will have the same criteria where they need to have that crash rating established by the PD and Homeland Security,” Goff said. The package lists sliding bollards and a wedge device as specified products and allows alternate products if they meet the stated criteria and bidders submit documentation of prior installations.
Committee members asked for specifics about roadway widths and device envelopes on Matlak and Darlington. A committee member noted the cartway is “roughly, what, 22 feet wide?” and Goff confirmed the field measurements and clarified that, for some wedge devices, two wedges side‑by‑side would be needed to prevent vehicle passage. “So the wedge will actually…the products that we’ve seen, you’ll actually need 2 wedges, side by side in order to prevent vehicles from going through Gay Street,” Goff said.
Members raised emergency‑access concerns, asking how quickly devices could be lowered for fire and police vehicles. Goff said deployment and retraction speed is part of the technical criteria and will factor into bid evaluation. The committee and engineers also discussed aesthetics, relocation ease for public works, and whether the devices’ presence would reduce roadway width.
The engineer said the bid package will be uploaded to a public procurement site (PennBid/Bonfire) and that the typical bid period is three to four weeks, with work anticipated to be scheduled after the procurement process. The committee did not take a formal vote on an option during the meeting but directed staff to issue the solicitation.
