To kick off Bike Month the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Multimodal Planning released an update on the implementation of the High-Quality Bike Network. The High-Quality Bike Network is the City’s planning vision for the year 2040, aiming to create a network of safe and comfortable bike routes within ¼ mile of every Philadelphian. Along and parallel to higher-stress roads the High-Quality Bike Network is comprised of separated bike lanes which include flex posts, parking-protected bike lanes, raised cycle-tracks (curb-separated bikeways with adjacent pedestrian sidewalks) and shared-use paths. On low-stress streets in the network, traffic-calming, painted bike lanes and sharrows for navigation may be used in concert to create Neighborhood Bikeways. Data compiled for the 2023 Vision Zero Annual Report found that where separated bike lanes were installed, there were 17% fewer total injury crashes and twice as many bike riders.
The City measures the extent of bike facilities in two different ways:
Centerline Miles – Miles of streets with bicycle facilities regardless of whether it is a one-way or two-way facility. Useful when measuring the coverage of bike infrastructure and is easily comparable to other cities.
Bike Lane Miles – The actual lane miles. For example: a one-mile stretch of road with a two-way bike lane (such as Parkside Avenue) equals 2 miles of bike lanes. Best used for route planning and analyzing connectivity.
What Happened in 2023?
The City and its partners added, upgraded, or restriped bike facilities on 15.9 miles of streets during the 2023 paving season including 6.6 miles of streets with separated bike lanes. As of December 31, 2023 the total number of separated bike in Philadelphia was 29.8 miles.
2023 Bike Lane Statistics
Parking-Protected Bike Lanes
- Walnut St from 34th to 63rd in West Philadelphia
- 74th St between Island Ave and Elmwood Ave in Southwest Philadelphia (2-way)
Post-Separated Bike Lanes
- Aramingo Ave bike lanes from Westmoreland Ave to Castor Ave in Port Richmond
- Aramingo Ave under the Lehigh Viaduct between Fishhtown and Port Richmond
- Strawberry Mansion Drive between Huntingdon St, the Strawberry Mansion Bridge, and Woodford Dr in Fairmount Park
2 Way Raised Bike Lane
- Germantown Ave between 2nd St and Girard Ave in Northern Liberties
Off-Road Sidepaths
- Henry Avenue from Thomas Jefferson University to Walnut Lane in East Falls and Roxborough
- Lindbergh Blvd between 84th St and John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge
What’s New and in Progress for 2024
As of the end of 2023 an additional 4.3 street miles of separated bike lanes were under construction.
- 13th Street between South St and Race Street. Flex posts on this post separated bike lane were finally installed in late April. The section from Race St to Spring Garden Street is waiting for the installation of flex posts.
- Market Street between 20th and 23rd. This heavily used two-parking protected bike lane still needs bike signals and flex posts. The bike signals should be installed soon but the completion date has been pushed back several times and no firm date has been given.
- A sidepath is part of a major Complete Streets project on Island Ave in Southwest Philadelphia between Buist and Suffolk Avenues. This project is not expected to be finished until late in 2025.
- Installation of a northbound 48th Street protected bike lane between Market St and Baltimore Ave is expected to begin in the next few weeks.
- A segment of the Broad St Sidepath between Pattision Ave and League Island Blvd should begin construction later this year.
- In January 2024 PIDC recently completed a small section of the Broad Street sidepath as part of the Quay Wall Project between Crescent and Intreped Ave. Unfortunately, as part of the project, the contractor painted this bizarre green bike crossing lane that should be reconfigured to meet the existing bike lane on South Broad St before the Navy Yard gate.
Big Picture Take-Aways
Does this report show that the City is meeting its stated commitments? It’s hard to say. The Kenney administration originally promised 40 miles of protected bike lanes by the end of his administration, but that goal was later revised down to 30 miles. This report shows that the City came very close to that revised goal.
In fairness, there were some project delays (like on Market and 13th Streets), where if things had progressed according to plan, the Kenney administration would have gone over their 30-mile goal.
It’s progress, but it’s not thrilling. We would like to see these infrastructure upgrades happen faster, and hope that some of the construction delays will start to clear up.
The full report is readable below:
The Coalition’s work is only possible thanks to the collective support of individuals like you across our communities in the Greater Philadelphia Region—Join, Renew, or make a One Time Donation today, so we can continue programming and advocacy for better, safer, and more accessible streets now and into the future!