Traffic & Transportation
I-95 interrupts access between the waterfront and neighborhoods
A region’s transportation network is its skeleton and its veins, providing the structure and framework for people to live and circulate. This network can encourage smart and sensitive development, or it can foster living habits that cause unsustainable and environmentally harmful development patterns.
Transportation networks for most metropolitan areas in the country changed dramatically after the Federal Highway Act of 1956, which appropriated $41 billion to construct 41,000 miles of interstate roads. This sparked a sudden transformation of the urban landscape, with more and more people moving out of the city and into low-density suburban developments.
Many of these highways ran through the cities themselves, removing sections of downtown or blocking public waterfront access.
Governments continue to focus on automobile networks, and the existing road pattern and lack of alternative transit options has supported “sprawl” development.
Roads continue to expand, people move further away from places of work and commerce, and cities continue to struggle because of shrinking populations and tax bases.
Metro areas have become so decentralized away from cities that auto congestion is significantly increasing, even as our federal government transportation dollars are predominantly dedicated to widening our road systems.|
Today, we are a suburban nation, and the automobile has become the only way to travel for most Americans. Attempts to ease road congestion by building more driving lanes have had limited success, as the street-widening often brings more drivers onto the roads. Such street designs makes alternate transportation methods impossible, as walking or biking are too dangerous and sprawl communities are to spread-out and disjointed to support a public mass transit or bus system.
Very few tax dollars are going toward alternate transportation because most voters worry about auto traffic, which therefore limits innovative research and propagates the cycle of auto dependability.
Many localities are taking new approaches to transportation planning, using networks to serve as the base of development and building around them.
Many cities change their land use planning and regulations to encourage development around important road intersections or public transportation centers using a model known as Transit Oriented Development.
There are many examples of such smart growth ideas, most of which approach problems from a regional perspective, viewing the city and adjoining suburbs as one network.
Current Projects
1. PATCO has plans underway to expand its transit service in southern New Jersey and on Philadelphia's Delaware riverfront. This work spawned from a Southern New Jersey to Philadelphia Transit Study done by the Delaware River Port Authority in 2005. Though the study focused on New Jersey, connecting PATCO riders to the riverfront and the Convention Center have become more prominent objectives in their current work.
COMMENT on PATCO's current transit alternatives: register at the bottom of this page.
To learn more, read PlanPhilly's coverage or check out PATCO's project websites below:
Alternatives for Philadelphia Waterfront Transit Expansion
Alternatives for Southern Jersey Transit Expansion
2. I-95 Reconstruction: Girard Avenue to Vine Street
Click here for an animated tour of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's redesign for the Girard Avenue interchange of I-95. For complete information on PennDOT's plans for I-95 in Southeastern Pennsylvania, check out their 95revive website.
Agencies
• www.dot.state.pa.us
• www.septa.org
• www.ridepatco.org
• www.phila.gov/streets
• www.philapark.org
• www.drpa.org
• www.bicylecoalition.org
• www.pahighways.com
Studies
• http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=202
• http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/
• http://www.smartgrowth.org/library/byissue.asp?iss=12&res=1024
• http://www.philaplanning.org/plans/ccparking.html
• http://www.philaplanning.org/pubinfo/plantings.pdf