Middletown Prepares For Pope’s Visit To Philly

This week, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to declare a state of emergency for Middletown Township due to Pope Francis’ planned visit to Philadelphia in September.

The pope will be visiting multiple locations in Philadelphia from September 26-27th, and NBC has reported that upwards of 1.5 million attendees will be flooding the Delaware Valley. Many government officials are concerned with the influx of traffic that will come with the event.

Middletown Chief of Police Joe Bartorilla is one of those officials.

Bartorilla is meeting with SEPTA in regards to the Woodbourne station for the large amount of commuting that will take place. The station is one of only four stations in Bucks county that will transport passengers to the the city via train.

“The impact of having over 20,000 commuters over two days for the township and the community is what will be discussed,” Bartorilla said, “discussing specifically what their (SEPTA’s) role will be at the station and, also, that we have identified overflow parking and are trying to get their assistance of the overflow of people.”

It is estimated that 50 percent of attendees will be 55 and older, and the chief of police is aware of this obstacle, both in Middletown and in Philadelphia.

“Not only will they be walking to the Woodbourne station, but they’re also being told that once they get to Philly that they will be walking two-to-three miles. And we just want to make this known to SEPTA.” In terms of traffic in Middletown, Bartorilla sees the Oxford Valley Mall parking lots as a much needed resource.

Out of the 18 train stations that will be part of the Pope’s visit, five of them are in Bucks County. Bartorilla said that SEPTA will provide an incident commander, two transit police officers and 15 line ambassadors at every station, to help with the foot and commuter traffic. Bartorilla knows that Middletown will have to help in this process as well.

“Of course we will be out there, we’re going to have a triage center in Philly for citizens; we’re going to have water available, air-conditioned tents, and we’re looking into public restrooms for downtown.”

Bartorilla credits SEPTA for remaining in touch with the surrounding counties, knowing that their biggest problems will certainly be in the city.

“Having to be precautionary of the immediate area where the Pope will be is first priority, obviously,” Bartorilla said, “I just think they may have not realized that quite a few of the train stations are in the outlying suburbs and counties, and you still have to commit a fair amount of resources to that as well.”

The Middletown Chief of Police’s optimism is due to the relationship they’ve developed with SEPTA.

“We’re going to commit all of our resources to it, I just want Septa to work with us and I think they are.”