Photo by Jeannette Brugger
The city is preparing to launch a repaving and improvement project on two of West Philly’s busiest streets – Walnut and Chestnut – and asking for community input. Construction is expected to begin in Spring 2022 and last week, the City launched a survey to seek community feedback on redesign options for Walnut Street from 22nd to 63rd Street and Chestnut Street from 63rd Street to 34th Street.
The City’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability (OTIS) is also hosting outdoor public open houses where residents can learn more about the project and provide feedback. They will take place on Thursday, June 17, 5-7 p.m. at the Walnut Hill Community Playground (47th and Sansom) and Tuesday, June 29, 5-7 p.m. at the Laura Sims Skate House (210 Cobbs Creek Pkwy).
Road safety on Chestnut and Walnut Streets is of a high concern for the city and neighbors. Sections of both streets are on the City’s Vision Zero High Injury Network, where 80 percent of crashes in the city happen on 10 percent of streets. Along the six-mile project area, there were almost 700 crashes from 2015 to 2019.
The project will include a number of improvements on the streets, such as creating a smoother surface and safer and shorter pedestrian crossings, calming vehicle traffic and keeping it moving at a predictable and safe speed, separating people biking from people walking and people driving, and more.
Residents, road users, and businesses along the six-mile stretch are encouraged to watch a series of short videos explaining the details of the project and to complete a short survey by July 15, text or call (215) 436-9886 or send comments and questions by email to VisionZeroPHL@phila.gov
More information is available on the project website.
June 15th, 2021 at 9:08 pm
I wonder if the city has done a survey of the traffic (Auto and Bike) on the streets. From what I have observed on the 4200 block of Chestnut street, one lane of formerly active auto traffic has been closed to provide a bike path for the occasional bicycler.
And still another lane is frequently being blocked by construction and delivery vehicles, reducing what once was a 3-lane smooth sail across west Philadelphia into a one lane rush hour traffic jam, no doubt sending hundreds of drivers into formerly quiet streets to avoid the crunch starting at 44th and Chestnut.
The concept of “relaxing” the heavy auto traffic in favor of pedestrians and bicycles never took into account the former “waves” of auto traffic resulting from the timed stop lights which created natural “quiet moments” on the street during each stoplight cycle. That was, until the large traffic jam caused by the new bike-lane construction and the regular blocking of half the remaining lanes by random deliveries or more regular construction blockages.
It strikes me as highly inefficient to bloc what had been designed as a smooth and efficient cross-town transit-way for a few bikers who could better drive on what were much less hectic streets like Pine, Locust, Larchwood and other parallel roads. Streets so quiet, no special lanes would even need to be drawn or blocked off to be safe for the occasional biker.
And, as the building construction continues to advance along this once efficient thruway, the city believes that this repaving project will smooth traffic and that the the street will not be dug up again anytime soon as new plumbing and sewage lines are cut into the roadway in the coming years as more buildings can be predictably expected. Just take a look at the former Thrift Store – then Dana Mandi Grocery, and now vacant single story building standing uniquely pregnant in the center of a dozen brand new high-rise apartment buildings, all within a block. And so close to Penn and to Public transit, who needs a bike? Especially when the unplowed path is snowbound in the winter, or when the bike path is regularly blocked by trash. And the wheelchair-capable ambulances constantly dropping off and collecting Dialysis patients who seriously need easy access to the center on the 4200 Block of Chestnut.
I believe that removing even one lane of automobile traffic was a bad idea from the start and has shown itself to be that during what was to have been this “trial” period.
Have we learned anything? The limited-answer questionnaire presented after the Zero-Vision three video presentation suggested the answer was no.
Do we want more “calming” lanes now that the number of pedestrian deaths has gone from few to none in the last 5 years?” I’m just a bit surprised the questions didn’t also ask if we should turn the Schuylkill expressway into a bike route too. It would certainly calm traffic there.
June 18th, 2021 at 9:52 am
Hi Michael,
Boy, oh boy. Where to start?
Have you ever stood at the corner on any of the streets you are proposing bikes travel down? I have, and many, many SUVs and trucks do not even stop. These are vehicles that would kill or maim a pedestrian or cyclist when they blow through stop signs. If you are seriously proposing rerouting directing all cycling traffic there, you first need to come up with an acceptable number of preventable cyclist and pedestrian murders per year. 10? 25? 100? Not sure where you are getting the idea that there are zero pedestrian deaths, the number is in fact quite far from it! There were more than 40 deaths in the first 10 months of 2020 alone!
It’s quite well documented that adding lanes doesn’t alleviate traffic. Rather, it induces more traffic. Drivers that would have otherwise walked, cycled, or taken the bus instead drive. After a short while, the traffic is the same as it was before a new lane was added. Just take a look at any of the centimillion dollar lane additions undergone in Texas and the results of them.
You are quite right that the lanes need more care. They are often covered in trash, construction debris, and blocked by idiots double parking! However, just because the city and it inhabitants are incapable of stewarding it doesn’t mean that it should be stopped.
If you are writing in good faith you will can easily look these numbers up and perhaps change your view. However, if you are not arguing in good faith, but rather along ideological lines, as I suspect you may, then nothing I can say will change your mind.
June 18th, 2021 at 9:57 am
By the way, just donated $50 to the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia in your name, Michael. Hopefully they make good use of it lobbying for positive change and bringing the city out of the 20th century GM dreamscape that it is.
June 18th, 2021 at 7:00 pm
Dear Critic,
BTW, I’m not afraid to use my own name.