Updated traffic impact studies released by six applicants for Philly's second casino license

Updated traffic impact studies by the six applicants for Philadelphia's second casino license were released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board this week, providing responses to specific deficencies in the original reports filed earlier this year.

City officials, along with the engineering firm that examined the initial traffic studies, Orth-Rodgers Associates, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation are now reviewing the updated studies posted to the gaming control board's website Wednesday.

The traffic studies mark perhaps the most substantive update to the applicants' plans for a second city casino ahead of the much anticipated suitability hearings now scheduled for Jan. 28-30. Selection of the winning application is then expected by March or April.

"There may be additional updates but these provide some more information for the public to see on the traffic impact [for] each of six applicants," gaming board spokesman Doug Harbach said Thursday.

"Initial [traffic impact] reviews conducted by Orth-Rodgers & Associates, Inc., of Malvern, in collaboration with Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) District 6-0 and the City of Philadelphia, had been posted to the Board's web site, www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov in July of this year," the gaming board said in a statement Wednesday. "The updated reports include responses by each of the applicants on specific deficiencies in the original reports."

The six applicants are: The Provence in North Philadelphia by Tower Entertainment, LLC; Casino Revolution in South Philadelphia by PHL Local Gaming LLC; Live! Hotel and Casino in South Philadelphia by Stadium Casino LLC; Market 8 in Center City by Market East Associates; Hollywood Casino Philadelphia in South Philadelphia by PA Gaming Ventures LLC; and Wynn Philadelphia in Fishtown by Wynn PA LLC.

For ongoing coverage of the city's second casino license, visit Philly.com's continually updated special section, High Stakes: The essential guide to Philly's next casino. For information specific to each casino applicant, click on the above links.