Chestnut Street between 30th Street and Schuylkill Avenue will be reduced to two travel lanes and a bicycle lane for approximately six months due to construction on the Schuylkill Avenue viaduct, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has announced.
Motorists have also been alerted about a new traffic pattern set up by PennDOT crews earlier this week. Under the traffic pattern, motorists turning left onto Schuylkill Avenue to access westbound Interstate 76, Interstate 676 or Market Street will use the left lane on Chestnut Street, potentially causing significant backups and delays on Chestnut Street.
The pedestrian crosswalk on the north side of Chestnut Street at Schuylkill Avenue will also be closed, requiring pedestrians to use the crosswalk on the south side of Chestnut Street.
The construction on the Schuylkill Avenue viaduct is part of PennDOT’s $103.6 million project to repair the Chestnut Street bridge over the Schuylkill River and seven other nearby structures. For more information on this project, go to www.chestnutstreetbridges.com.
October 12th, 2018 at 8:30 pm
Apparently no one has done any traffic studies on Chestnut Street.
On the 4200 block of Chestnut St. Which I frequent, the norm is one lane of cars, one lane of standing or working construction vehicles – or blinking (both meanings intended) delivery trucks and an almost always empty bike lane.
Just this morning, I yelled at yet another clueless biker riding in a car lane to inform her that there was a “protected bike lane” just a few feet to her left on the other side of the (illegally?) parked cars.
October 16th, 2018 at 8:04 pm
Biker here. I love the protected bike lane. I use it almost every day. The “clueless” biker you’re referring to, Mike, may have known about the lane but might have had it blocked by any number of obstacles that come about in that “protected” lane. It’s frustrating having to deal with pedestrians blindly crossing the street nowhere near the crosswalk who look both ways for cars but never think to keep an eye out for bicyclists who might be traveling down the street too. Or how about construction vehicles and delivery trucks who turn the bike lane into their own additional parking space?
It’s easy to criticize bicyclists when you’re riding around in your gas-powered motorchair but give biking a try one day, and I promise you’ll be more sympathetic.
October 17th, 2018 at 1:16 pm
Can I give the ‘West Philly’ writer, a high five?
I completely agree with everything he/she stated!