Monday, December 28, 2009

Will Philly Live Be Accessible to Pedestrians and Bicyclists?

As an island in a sea of asphalt, it's pretty hard to imagine that the designers of Philly Live are thinking very hard about how bicyclists and pedestrians will access the place- even pedestrians going to or from the adjacent subway station could be dodging cars across the parking lot.













Philly Live Rendering looking east towards 11th St - About.com

But if we as citizens want the greatest return of investment on this public/private partnership then we should really be demanding that the developers put on their thinking caps. The renderings show a dizzying number of pedestrians walking along a faux Main Street even if about 90% of them will be driving to get there. But designing this right could be the first piece of a puzzle that connects the sprawling sports complex to the dense, walkable and bikeable South Philadelphia neighborhood.

One thing that Comcast/Spectacor and The Cordish Company will definitely have to deal with is the new bicycle parking requirement. According to Philadelphia Code bicycle parking space is required for every 10,000 Sq Ft. At 350,000 square feet of space Philly Live will be required to put in at least 35 bicycle spaces. That's a small number especially for the number of retail, restaurant and service workers who will be using bikes to get to work. There may be many more bike parking spaces required if Philly Live's parking lots qualify as a "Public Parking Facility". One bike parking space per every 10 car spaces so a 5000 car lot would equal parking for 500 bikes.

1 comments:

Andrew J. Besold said...

I like how not a single one of those pedestrians are in parking lot or crossing the street. They are all magically on the sidewalk and no where else. I love it when designers deny reality.