The city pulled the plug on a proposed street redesign after community groups criticized the public engagement process for not listening to all local voices.
A plan to redesign a dangerous five-lane Philadelphia street by reducing it to three traffic lanes and adding parking-protected bike lanes has stalled after local opponents voiced concerns that the public engagement process didn't reach enough residents and stakeholders. As Jared Brey reports, the city's Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (OTIS) developed the plan for Washington Avenue with a focus on Complete Streets principles, but ultimately decided to change the design.
"With U.S. pedestrian deaths spiking and the federal government calling for a national roadway safety initiative, Philly's surprise U-turn on Washington Avenue shows how efforts to redesign streets for multiple user groups can get complicated, particularly in gentrifying areas," Brey writes. "Road diets can be very visible signs of neighborhood change, and they’re driven by city government, so communities often associate them with a range of issues that go beyond traffic safety. Bike lanes in particular are often seen as symbols of gentrification."
Although more than 70 percent of respondents in a city survey supported the three-lane plan, some residents say they were never given information about the project or the opportunity to respond to the survey. According to Mike Carroll, deputy managing director for OTIS, the fact that the concerns came from Black, low-income communities made the office take pause and "recalled painful historical instances of destructive transportation planning done by technocrats without input from communities of color."
OTIS is going back to the drawing board and "moving forward with plans to redesign the street, using elements of the three-lane and four-lane mixed approach. The office says it will announce the construction plans at a public meeting on March 1."
The source article provides more details on the three alternatives for the Washington Avenue redesign, all of which include protected bike lanes.
FULL STORY: How a Philadelphia Road Redesign Went Off the Rails

Red Cities, Blue Cities, and Crime
Homicides rose across the nation in 2020 and 2021. But did they rise equally in all cities, or was the situation worse in some than in others?

The Shifting Boomer Bulge: More Bad News for America’s Housing Crisis?
In the first of a two-part series, PlaceMakers’ Ben Brown interviews housing guru Arthur C. Nelson on the sweeping demographic changes complicating the housing market.

A Serious Critique of Congestion Costs and Induced Vehicle Travel Impacts
Some highway advocates continue to claim that roadway expansions are justified to reduce traffic congestion. That's not what the research shows. It's time to stop obsessing over congestion and instead strive for efficient accessibility.

Tolling All Lanes
Bay Area transportation planners are studying a radical idea to reduce traffic congestion and fund driving alternatives: tolling all lanes on a freeway. Even more radical, the plan considers tolling parallel roads.

Federal SMART Grants Awarded for Transportation Safety, Equity Projects
The grant program focuses on the use of technology to improve safety, accessibility, and efficiency in transportation.

Fare Enforcement Upheld by Washington Supreme Court
But using armed police to enforce fare payment is less than ideal in the eyes of the top court in the state of Washington.
City of Greenville
City of Greenville
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps Program
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact: Mobility, Community, Possibility
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.