Upcoming meeting to discuss future restriping of Washington Avenue
We’ve told you previously about the restriping plans to make Washington Avenue a safer street for all types of commuters.
Since initially telling you about these plans, progress has been halted by some opposition. Now a meeting is being held with the Streets Department, Planning Commission and the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities to discuss how to improve this ever-changing street and help to create a new restriping proposal.
We recently told you about plenty of changes happening on Washington Avenue, ranging from a new mixed-use development proposed for 9th and Washington to the Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken opening at 20th and Washington. As the businesses and structure of the street changes, so should the street itself.
Previously plans for restriping were expected to begin in 2015, with changes to the car lanes, bike lanes, parking and more to help improve the overall visibility and safety on the street. You can read more about the previous proposal here.
If you’d like to see this street improved, come out and give your opinions on how Washington Avenue can become a safer place for everyone at this upcoming meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to help develop a new restriping proposal for this highly frequented road.
The meeting is being held at the Rock School for Dance Education at Broad and Washington. It will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 3.
What improvements would you like to see made on Washington Avenue?
I can guess how this meeting will go: a bunch of lifer residents who loathe change will shout down and insult anyone with a differing opinion who hasn’t lived in South Philly for 40+ years and nothing will get resolved.
QVNA supports efforts to make Washington Ave a more usable street. We just do not believe that anything remotely approaching a sufficient case for the proposal at hand has been made. We look forward to engaging in a discussion of a NEW proposal, based on data and the actual needs of all stakeholders.
One thing that is easily supported by data/stats is the high number of bicycle and pedestrian crashes that occur on Washington. Bicycle crashes can be found here:
http://blog.bicyclecoalition.org/2013/12/this-map-of-philly-reveals-locations.html
I’m not personally invested in making Washington something different than what it is, but it is in dire need of increased safety (and a compelling case for Complete Streets).
Just wondering what QVNA considers to be flawed about the proposal – does it go too far or not far enough? If it needs major changes, what is wrong with the current proposal?
I may be wrong, but the portion of Washington Ave that borders Queen Village is already repainted and there don’t seem to be plans to do it again. Not sure what Queen Village would have to say about the remaining portions of Washington Ave.
What QVNA has to say about anything from 6th St up is meaningless. They should be more concerned with the ghetto PJ’s within their border.
And by “all stakeholders,” do you mean “all stakeholders who happen to have the time, motivation, and free time to show up to a QVNA meeting and voice their uneducated opinion and speculate about how terrible these improvements will be”?
I would like to see protected bike lanes, curb extensions for easier pedestrian crossing and dedicated turning lanes to make traveling in a car less chaotic. It would also be nice to see some trees planted as well, but that’s not really a central requirement (for me). I cross or walk on Washington frequently, and it’s far too “highway-like”.
FYI, the Bike Coalition is holding a pre-meet on Sept. 1st to coach bike supporters on what to say at the public meeting:
http://bicyclecoalition.org/lets-get-to-work-on-washington-avenue/#sthash.nownuM5y.dpbs
I’d like to see enforcement of parking and traffic violations along Washington first. If people treat the restriped Washington the same way they do now (especially around the market) it will bring traffic to a halt.
I understand how inconvenient it is to find parking possibly blocks away just to load or unload some small things, but the double parked cars completely shut down a lane and cause aggresive driving and danger for bikes and pedestrians. I know the restriping is intended to fix this, but it seems like a lot could be done by having somewhere there to enforce the current rules.
An appropriate amount of loading zones would go a long way. Because parking is so contentious, loading zones are often left out, leaving businesses no choice but to park illegally (many times in bike lanes).
Yes! Enforcement of parking/traffic laws is the first step. Dedicated bike lanes, curb extensions, and the angled parking would all help improve the area. Washington Ave is no longer an “industrial access road”.
I know Washington Avenue is bad for bicyclists now, but this is going to be even worse. Those cars parking diagonally are not going to be able to see bicyclists coming if there is a truck/van next to them. Same goes for the bicyclist. For example lets say a biyclist is heading westbound on Washington, at the light ahead there is a box truck, behind that is a car. Bicyclist can’t see the car, drive can’t see the bicyclists. The car nudges out into the bike lane so it can see other cars coming. Bicyclist flips over the hood (or trunk).
I think what you are saying about bikes and diagonal parking is very interesting and intuitively makes a lot of sense as being more dangerous for bikes. I would certainly want the bike coalition and the proponents of the diagonal parking to discuss what benefits there are to diagonal parking and bikes – because it does sound like a nightmare.
Best way to deal with this is to have parking pushed closer to the travel lanes and have the bicycle lane situated between the parked cars and the sidewalk. With the parking-free area close to every corner, there would be a decent line of sight between cars and bicyclists for turning cars.
Maybe…are you talking about a hard-buffer – either cement or those orange-pole buffers?
Because, I could pretty easily imagine a car just parking right through the bike lane onto the curb, if they never seen that kind of design or don’t notice the bike lane. Then this is a disaster for a biker coming through – with a mostly clear bike lane, except for one parked car blocking…
To play devil’s advocate – why does Washington Avenue need bike lanes? What if bikes just took a whole lane on Christian or a parking lane on two of the other one way streets in the area – (Ellsworth and Federal)? I think this has worked very well on Pine and Spruce and made travelling between the rivers in that area very safe and convenient.
Washington ave from front to 9th st is way too highway like. the street is so wide drivers just fly & its a very scary street to cross. get rid of the useless middle lane where cars park illegally, back in angle parking & better/safer bike lane & pedestrian crossings. somehow get those drivers to slow down!
Looking forward to a Washington Ave that can serve as the gem of our community and meet the needs of all users of this corridor. Walking, biking, and driving this corridor right now often seem like risky options, it’d be great if this could be fixed.
Also: 9th St. should be pedestrian-only on weekends and holidays.
So did Passyunk Post cover the meeting? How’d it go? I was away on vacation and I’d like to find out. The Philadelphia Business Journal article is really poor, and didn’t talk to any residents or business owners:
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2015/09/04/washington-ave-restriping-bike-lanes-streets-dept.html
“Approximately 200 community members called for the Philadelphia Streets Dept. to take quicker action to improve the safety of Washington Avenue, west of the Schuylkill River, during a Thursday meeting.” WEST of the Schuylkill?