PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Improvements to Washington Avenue, in South Philadelphia, will begin later this month, after nearly a decade of planning. City officials had hoped to make the road safer for pedestrians and bikes, but they warn it could actually become more dangerous on its western end.
Deputy Managing Director Mike Carroll held dozens of meetings, took several surveys and heard from thousands of people before proposing a redesign of the avenue that would reduce the number of lanes along the most hazardous stretches and employ safety features such as rumble strips, corner wedges and protected bike lanes from 4th Street to Grays Ferry Avenue.
Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson blew up the safety plan when he refused to introduce the legislation needed to reduce the number of lanes and build in safety features on the part of the avenue in his district — from around 11th Street to Greys Ferry.
Johnson said his concern was congestion on the west end of Washington Avenue, in light of construction that will add thousands of new units of housing in the next few years. He said he'd continue to work to find safety measures that could be used on that part of the road.
Carroll says the city will proceed with the safety features from Fourth to 11th streets, and will repave the entire avenue, but the smoother road west of 11th Street, with no added safety features, means cars are likely to drive faster.
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“There’s likely to be changes in people’s behavior when they’re given this fresh pavement to drive on, and not all of those changes are going to be for the better,” Carroll said.
Johnson had said he supported traffic-calming measures on his end of Washington, but Carroll said it’s not that simple.
“It’s not just a simple matter of throwing down speed cushions,” he said. “All of the measures we had put together in the package were designed and intended to support the mixed-lane option, so we’re forced to prioritize and go back to the drawing board on Washington Avenue.”
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He says he hopes that when people see the new environment on the east end of the avenue, they will want to see the same features on the west end, too. However, the next opportunity for changes like that will be the next time the road is paved — in five to 10 years.
Carroll says milling the road down and then repaving is set to begin at the end of July — and the additional features will be added from Fourth to 11th streets only.