Provence stands by traffic, parking projections

Tower Entertainment officials say they stand by their traffic and parking estimates for the proposed Provence casino on North Broad Street.

When Provence made its case at a suitability hearing before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board this week, intervening groups -- two neighborhood schools and a synagogue -- said Tower Entertainment had inflated the number of available parking spaces and assumed too many patrons would take mass transit.

But Eric Ostimchuck, a traffic engineering expert, told the board that the Provence stands by its projection that four out of 10 gamblers would drive, three out of 10 would take public transportation and the rest would walk or use taxis and shuttles.

Ostimchuck also said that, even without counting the parking spaces the intervening groups are disputing, there is adequate parking at the site.

PennDOT engineer Francis Hanney told the board that SugarHouse was designed as a vehicle-centric casino, but many more patrons than expected have arrived using mass transit.