The two plans under consideration for Woodland Avenue near the intersection with Chester Avenue and down to 42nd Street.

Traffic lights and crosswalks are coming to the section of Woodland Avenue near The Woodlands cemetery and the intersection with Chester Avenue.

Visitors to The Woodlands know that crossing Woodland Avenue at the awkward intersection at Chester or the trolley portal can get a little dicey. But a new plan unveiled last night at a Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) meeting will slow traffic along Woodland and close down the little section of 41st Street that often baffles drivers and pedestrians alike.

“The whole project is about user safety, whether you’re a pedestrian, a cyclist or a driver,” Julie Bush of the landscape architecture firm Ground Reconsidered told the SHCA board. Continue Reading

SEPTA is pushing back the revamping of its bus routes and schedules – a project dubbed “Bus Revolution” – until Fall 2024 after riders criticized the plan in a public meeting earlier this week.

SEPTA officials have said that the changes would streamline the system by prioritizing busy routes. But riders and public officials complained in a City Council hearing on Monday that the elimination of some stops and routes would be disruptive to many passengers, including students and seniors. The current plan reduces the number of routes from 125 to 99 but would increase the frequency of buses on high frequency routes like the 52 along 52nd Street.

SEPTA officials said they would revise the project and have an update in early spring and begin a new round of community hearings in the spring and summer.

This would be the first major overhaul of the bus system in 60 years.

The City Council will hold a public hearing Monday on SEPTA’s Bus Revolution project, the plan to overhaul its bus network, which has drawn criticism from residents and elected officials.

The council’s Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities will hold a virtual public hearing beginning at 10 a.m. “to examine the approach and expected impacts of SEPTA’s Bus Revolution service reconfiguration.”

SEPTA’s plan cuts several routes and prioritizes high-use routes – like the 52 through West Philly – with promises of shorter wait times and more direct routes. But riders have complained that the changes will leave some residents, including some in Southwest Philly, with diminished service. Continue Reading

The deadline to apply for the Neighborhood Slow Zone Program has been extended to February 15. The program, run by the Philadelphia Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (OTIS), invites neighbors to apply for traffic calming in an entire zone of residential streets. The City will work with successful applicants to bring traffic calming to an entire “Slow Zone,” which will include:

• Developing a plan for traffic calming that responds to critical safety issues;

• Lowering speed limits to 20MPH;

• Installing traffic calming tools, like speed cushions, and more. Continue Reading

Check out information on holiday hours and closings at some popular local stores and supermarkets + SEPTA’s holiday service schedule.

SEPTA’s Holiday Service Schedule

Saturday, Dec. 24: Bus routes will operate on a Saturday schedule.

Sunday, Dec. 25: Bus routes will operate on a Sunday/Holiday schedule. Bus Routes 204, 310, 311 and LUCY will not operate.

Dec. 26–30: Bus routes will operate on a weekday alternate schedule.

Saturday, Dec. 31: Bus routes will operate on a Saturday schedule.

Mummers’ Parade, Sunday, Jan. 1: Special holiday service on the Market-Frankford and Broadstreet Lines with Bus Owl service beginning at 12:00 a.m.. Surface Transportation will operate on a Sunday schedule. Bus Routes 204, 310, 311 and LUCY will not operate. Continue Reading

Rendering of improved Woodland Avenue looking east towards the 40th Street Trolley Portal and entrance to The Woodlands.

Long-needed safety improvements are coming soon to Woodland Avenue.

Woodland Avenue, and especially the portion between 41st Street and VA Medical Center driveway, is one of the most dangerous roads in the city. Between 2017 and 2021, 13 crashes involving 49 people were reported in that part of the road, with 27 people injured.

Pedestrians and cyclists trying to cross near SEPTA’s 40th Street Trolley Portal and enter The Woodlands currently have to dash across Woodland Avenue and hope for the best. Same goes for the awkward intersection of Chester Ave and Woodland Avenue.

In fact, it can be so treacherous at times along Woodland that the City added the street to the High Injury Network of Vision Zero, the program to eliminate traffic-related deaths by 2030. Continue Reading