The City of Philadelphia is approaching Mayor Kenney’s Mayoral 2015 commitment to build 30 miles of protected bikeways. Referred to by City Officials as the High-Quality Bicycle Network, a combination of separated bike lanes, raised cycle-tracks (curb-separated bikeways with adjacent pedestrian sidewalks) and shared-use paths. This year, nearly ten miles of the network has been added with several more segments opening in early 2023.
You can scroll through our slide show to see where many of the new bike facilities are located.
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In addition to these new facilities, several projects are near completion.
Market St 2-way cycletrack between 20th and 23rd St
Henry Avenue sidepath from School House Lane in East Falls to Walnut Lane in Roxborough
The City is also working to mitigate the extreme scofflaw parking on the new two-way bike lane on Grays Avenue approaching Bartrams Garden.
The creation of a High-Quality Bike Network is only the start. The next mayor and council will have to ensure that maintenance for these facilities is adequately funded. We also expect the PPA to launch its parking bike patrols soon to enforce illegal parking. Sidepaths in particular can eventually fall into disrepair since the responsibility currently falls on the shoulders of the adjacent landowners who may or may see the path as an asset. Last winter, the Streets Department used smaller plows to maintain the wide-enough protected bike lanes. The City policy is to clean the protected bike lanes after the secondary and tertiary roads are cleared.