In the last year we saw some big improvement projects completed that are worth celebrating. First, it’s important to say that making our roads safer for vulnerable users doesn’t happen over night. These projects involve a lot of people and take, in some cases, years to complete. Check out our top three favorite on-road infrastructure improvement projects completed in 2022 so far.
Chestnut Street- 63rd St. to 22nd St.
The longest Parking Protected Bike Lane in Philadelphia’s history!
At 3.8 miles, Chestnut Street is the longest continuous on-road parking protected bike lane in Philadelphia to date. We want to specifically shoutout Council Member Jamie Gauthier, the City of Philadelphia’s office of Infrastructure, Transportation, and Sustainability and PennDOT District 6 for making this happen. This bike lane will allow people to ride from Cobbs Creek into Center City safely, it will also allow for residents in West Philly to have safe access to businesses, residencies, and recreation areas. We look forward to seeing more projects like this one connecting people to all different parts of the city!
Photo by Dave Brindley
Washington Avenue- 4th St to 11th St.
Arguably the most contentious Bike Lane in Philadelphia’s history!
Since 2013, the City of Philadelphia has been working to improve the design and safety of Washington Ave, a main East/West Arterial road on the High Injury Network. The process came to a pinnacle this year when the city released a second final design that gave traffic calming treatment to the East side of the road. The West side’s design was never approved by the district Council Member, Kenyatta Johnson. Instead some traffic calming measures were added on the west side after the repaving but those measures didn’t include parking protected bike lanes, a road diet, or corner clearances. Today we applaud the success of the East side of Washington avenue and its ability to keep all users moving!
Photo by Jonas Maciunas
Lehigh Avenue- Kensington Ave to Aramingo Ave
First East/West Parking Protected Bike Lane in North Philly
This project was completed by PennDOT district 6 with help from the City of Philadelphia. This section of Lehigh Avenue is part of the Vision Zero High Injury Network, which means that there is a higher rate of severe traffic crashes here than on the average Philadelphia street. From 2016-2020, there was 100 crashes on this 4 block stretch involved 299 people, 5 of which were killed or seriously injured. The improvement project included reduced travel lanes and the addition of a parking protected bike lane. We look forward to even more safety improvements in North Philadelphia!
Photo by John Boyle