PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pedestrian safety improvements four years in the making are now complete along a section of West Fairmount Park near the Please Touch Museum.
Just off Parkside Avenue, there are now two roundabouts along Concourse Drive between East Memorial Drive and West Memorial Drive. The goal of the roundabouts is to help reduce drivers’ speed and potentially save lives.
Parkside residents like Mike Burch are pleased with the improvements, which he says will give pedestrians better and safer access to West Fairmount Park.
“All of this is just improving the area because it can be very dangerous,” said Burch.
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“These areas, Parkside Avenue and this highway here are barriers to getting to the inside of the park, so something had to be done to make it easier for people to cross that barrier, because you have many people, particularly older folks, who sit on their porches that look at the park but are afraid to come across because of the high traffic.”
“When we look at Concourse Drive, this is a high-injury network street for the city’s Visions Zero Program. That means that it is one of the 12% of the city streets that has 80% of our fatal and serious injury crashes,” Philadelphia Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability Director of Complete Streets Kelley Yemen said.
“Improvements like these roundabouts that reduce fatalities are incredibly important, especially giving neighbors and visitors to the park access to all of the different amenities here.”
Yemen cited a state study showing that over the last 20 years, locations where roundabouts have been installed have seen more than an 80% reduction in injuries, a 90% reduction in fatalities, and fewer pedestrian and bicycle crashes.
“These (roundabouts) are really making it safer for everybody on the roadway in those most serious crashes,” said Yemen.
The areas around the new roundabouts also include new lighting, ADA access, and clearly-marked walkways and bike lanes. Crosswalks have a pedestrian-activated button to alert drivers that pedestrians are crossing the road.
Seating on the plaza includes some electrical outlets which are ideal for charging phones.
The Fairmount Park Conservancy, a non-profit that supports efforts to improve parks in Philadelphia, and the Streets and the Parks and Recreation departments have been working with the community over the past four years to ensure the public's needs were addressed within the project.
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“It’s an opportunity for the public to reclaim this space that has been lost to cars over time,” said Tara Rasheed, senior project manager for the Fairmount Park Conservancy. “This is one of the many improvements that we hope to see at Centennial Park.“
The Fairmount Park Conservancy is hosting a harvest festival on Sunday afternoon to celebrate the improved space. It will feature wellness and nature-oriented activities, pumpkin decorating, and entertainment for the whole family.