Wissahickon Ave & Hansberry St, one of seven segments where changes are proposed. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)
Last year, the city identified Wissahickon Avenue, from Hunting Park Avenue to Midvale Avenue, and on Midvale to W. Coulter Street, as a priority area for safety improvements due to the high number of severe crashes. There were 108 between 2019 and 2023.
As of last Tuesday, May 6, the first drafts of recommendations have been released.
At Tuesday’s virtual meeting, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) – brought in to help with the planning and data collection & analysis – and city reps, with the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (which leads Vision Zero), provided community leaders with a presentation on proposed recommendations based on collected data and community member survey analysis.
This year-long process, set to finalize in July of this year, is part of the Vision Zero Action Plan, which the city adopted to help end traffic deaths by 2030.
The team shared the project’s goals, including:
- Focus on the needs for pedestrian crossings, ensuring safety and visibility.
- Implement traffic calming measures to enhance road safety.
- Include bicycle facilities to enhance the High Quality Bike Network.
- Promote high-frequency transit services and their use (such as installing bus shelters).
- Address the diverse parking and loading requirements of the corridor through context-sensitive design.
Some of the major takeaways found from the road safety audit and survey they conducted last year included:
- A lot of varied right-of-way width, lane configuration & land use
- Underutilized parking
- Need for more integration with SEPTA and the Midvale Depot
- Community feedback highlights speeding, U-turns, bike & pedestrian safety
Right now, there are seven crash clusters along the Wissahickon corridor. Crash clusters are locations within the strip/area that have the most points of crash indication.
Transportation Planner with DVRPC, Kaylen Phillips (they/them), also revealed that intersections were not the only points of issue when it comes to traffic safety on the Wissahickon corridor; There’s also a lot of crashes happening mid-block.
Community input, from both nearby residents of the corridor and overall Philadelphians, showed safety for people of all transit modes, including walking, biking, and driving, traffic & congestion, and potholes/road surface issues were of highest priority to consider. This input was gathered through surveys online and in-person engagements over the past year.
Transportation Planner for DVRPC, Kendra Nelson, detailed how the proposed changes for the Wissahickon Avenue corridor would focus on improving multimodal safety and accessibility through a “road diet” and other interventions.
A road diet, in short, is removing unnecessary vehicle capacity that repurposes that space into dedicated turning lanes, improvements for folks getting places by foot or bike by introducing bike lanes, widening sidewalks, and introducing bus shelters, and other major or minor improvements.
Some places where these have happened in Philadelphia in the past include Adams Avenue between the Roosevelt Boulevard & Tacony Street and Washington Avenue from 4th Street to Grays Ferry Avenue.
The most significant change to the road they’d like to make through the “diet” includes adding a two-way bike lane on the southbound side, wherever the width of the road is deemed appropriate to do so. Right now, the segments where significant changes are proposed are based on the clash clusters identified, including:
- A: SEPTA Midvale Depot to Hunting Park Avenue
- B: Roberts Avenue to SEPTA Midvale Depot
- C: Wissahickon Charter School to Roberts Avenue
- D: Hansberry Street to Clapier Street
- E: Queen Lane to Hansberry Street
- F: Midvale Avenue to Queen Lane
- G: Midvale Avenue
The proposed design changes for this specific corridor vary per section, but overall include reduced vehicle lane widths, removal of vehicle lanes, introduction of shared-use pathways, median strips, curb extensions, bike facilities, potential bus shelters, bus stop relocations, speed slots, and more.
There wasn’t much pushback on the design, and folks generally seemed gracious for the planner’s efforts on this project. Chief Executive Officer of Wissahickon Charter School, Kristi Littell, did have a bit of concern about narrowing the road in front of the school from four lanes to two.
Lydia Kenselaar, with the city, noted that this section, which pushes for the aforementioned bike lane, was heavily considered due to the community’s need for more multimodal access and safety.
She also pointed out that these are not the final drafts of the plans and there is still time for more community input. Furthermore, while these plans would be finalized this year, these changes would begin to be implemented several years later.
The process of collecting data, analyzing, and engaging the community for their sentiments has been ongoing since last July, when the project kicked off.
While an initiative of the city, they brought in support from the DVRPC, which provided planning support, data analysis, and often spearheaded community engagement around the project in the past year.
The planning team says there will be another upcoming survey to begin gauging the community’s approval of the proposed safety measures and road diet. The survey will be distributed through various modes, including online and in-person.
The next steps for the project include engagement, compilation of findings, and preparation of a written report, which will be finalized by July.
Residents can take the survey to give feedback on the recommendations by visiting the DVRPC website. Questions about the project can be directed to Kendra Nelson, the project contact, at kendra@dvrpc.org.
Note: While the Germantown Info Hub is listed as a support organization for distributing surveys within the presentation, this is untrue. DVRPC also noted this as a mistake in the meeting and said that instead, it was supposed to be the IGA Market at Wayne and Chelten. They said they would change it, which we appreciate. We’ve also reached out to ensure we are removed from the presentation. Sorry for any confusion there.