center city bikeways crosstown south pilot project

Center City Bikeways

Crosstown South Pilot Project



Agenda

• Introduction

• Pilot Project Overview

• Q&A at Boards



History to Date

• Development and Evaluation of Options

• Meetings with District Councilmembers

• Meeting with Representatives from Community Organizations

• Meeting with Religious Institutions

• Meeting with Emergency Responders

• Meeting with Community Organization Boards

Philadelphia Bicycle Network: 50 miles of paved paths

Over 200 miles of streets with bike lanes

But few links into Center City

Yet Center City is where many of the region’s major attractions are located

Jobs

ShoppingTourism

Performing

Arts

Museums

Because of the lack of bicycle facilities in Center City and the potential to

connect the existing and proposed river trails,

we focused our analysis on this corridor south of Walnut Street

Center City Traffic Volumes

East-West Streets

4,564

3,377

2,086

2,573

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

Eastbound Westbound

Vehic

les/H

our

Available Capacity

Traffic Volume

East-west streets in Center City have excess capacity even during peak periods

Typical Existing Conditions –

Two narrow travel lanes and a narrow parking lane

Pilot Project –

One-way bike lane on two parallel streets

Advantages

Two lanes of traffic

Possible to pass a

stopped or slow moving

vehicle

Disadvantages

Stopped vehicles may

block either travel lane

unpredictably

Bicycles must compete

with faster motor

vehicle traffic

Bicyclists at risk of

“dooring”

Typical Existing

Conditions

Philadelphia Office of Transportation

Advantages

Bicyclists separated

from moving and

parked vehicles

Motor vehicle travel

lane clarified

Curbside remains

available for emergency

vehicles and loading

Disadvantages

Motor vehicles will

block the bike lane

when loading/unloading

goods or passengers

Permit parking for

religious institutions will

impact the bike lane

sporadically

Pilot Project

Conditions

After evaluating the streets in the corridor, we found that Spruce and

Pine were the best candidates for the a successful pilot project

SPRUCE ST

PINE ST



• Minimize conflicts with buses

• Close to Center City destinations

• Bridge over I-95 links streets with Delaware River and Penn’s Landing

• Close to Locust Street access to Schuylkill River Trail

• Pilot will test how bike lanes work with other tourist vehicles – horse carriages, tour vehicles, etc.

Why Spruce and Pine Streets?



• Longer distance with bus conflicts

• Poor linkage to Schuylkill River Trail

• Further from Center City destinations

• Higher traffic volumes west of 9th Street

• Reduced traffic because of South Street Bridge reconstruction

Why not Lombard?



Will this impact residential parking?

• No change in residential parking is proposed at this time

• Consideration could be given in future to providing loading zones



Will this impact emergency vehicles?

• Part of reason for Pilot Project will be to evaluate impact on emergency vehicles

• Hospitals in corridor will have to have adequate emergency access

• Fire and Police Departments are supportive of project



• Currently No Parking regulations prohibit parking in right travel lane but permit standing and stopping

• The same No Parking regulations will apply to the bike lane

• Taxis, residents will still be allowed to briefly stop or stand at curb as needed

• Delivery vehicles, moving vans will still be allowed to stop at curb to load or unload goods

What about passenger and goods loading?



What about parking for religious institutions?

• Special parking privileges for religious institutions will continue

• Limited to persons with parking placards that:

– Must be displayed on dash

– Are valid only during authorized hours

– May be used for special church events such as weddings or funerals



What about parking for religious institutions?

• Stricter enforcement of existing rules

• Signage may be installed to clarify rules

• Parking periods to be reexamined when existing authorizations are reviewed

• Parking privilege to be limited to hours when religious ceremonies are being conducted



How will the Pilot be evaluated?

• Motor vehicle counts

• Bicycle counts

• Motor vehicle queue lengths at key intersections

• Spot speed studies



Will there be street repairs?

• East of Broad Street, streets will be resurfaced beginning in Spring 2010

• West of Broad, spot repairs will be made



Next Steps

• Evaluate existing conditions

• Official start of pilot late September

• Evaluate late October/early November

• Findings of evaluation will be reported in early December



Conclusion

• Create a safe route to attract cyclist

• Remove cyclists from the sidewalk

• Reduce cyclists on other streets

• Increase in cyclists will likely calm traffic on Spruce and Pine

• This is a pilot



Comments/Feedback

Charles Carmalt

Office of Transportation and Utilities

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

center city bikeways crosstown south pilot project

Documents

successful pilot project

narrow parking lane

schuylkill river trail

residential parking

parking regulations

parking placards

bike lane parked vehicles

impact emergency vehicles