A West Philly cyclist who regularly uses the Baltimore Avenue bike lane for commuting, was recently seriously injured when she swerved to avoid a trench near 46th and Baltimore. Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) dug the trench (see photo) during work at 4527 Baltimore Ave. about a month ago.

“The trench is so large that it makes part of the bike lane disappear and reduces it down to about 10 inches,” writes the injured cyclist, Hanna Kahler. “Because there are trolley tracks on Baltimore Ave, many bicyclists are getting forced into traffic and dangerously being forced to cross the trolley tracks with little notice.”

Hanna was injured on the evening of Saturday, Oct. 26 and had to spend the night in the ER.

“I know of 3 other cyclists who were similarly injured. I’m sure that there are more that I don’t know about,” she adds.

Hanna said that her and a friend, Julia Murdza, who has been involved in advocating for the trench to be fixed so it is no longer hazardous for cyclists to pass it, have filled out a 311 report and reached out to Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s office.

PGW completed work in the trench, and it is the Streets Department’s responsibility to fix it, according to Councilmember Gauthier’s spokesperson Harrison Feinman.

“We are concerned by the unsafe situation this trench creates,” he said. “We have been in contact with [the Streets Department] to express our concerns and asked them to close the trench ASAP. Unfortunately, we have not gotten a firm answer from [the department] on when this will be fixed.”

UPDATE (11/15/24): The Streets Department is going to “send out a team to investigate this issue,” according to Ciani Beatty, Constituent Services Manager of the Office of Councilmember Jamie Gauthier. We’ll let you know when get more updates.