Washington Avenue is an important east-west corridor street increasingly hemmed in by rapidly changing neighborhoods. Its industrial history may give way to mixed commercial, retail, and residential uses. That change is beginning to happen west of Broad, and a more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly street can only encourage that transition. (Whether that transition is in the best interests of Philadelphia's economy is not something we're qualified to assess.)
What is certain is that Washington Avenue sees too many injuries to pedestrians and bicyclists, and something must be done to lower those numbers.
Below is the proposed revised road markings.
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| Proposed Pavement Markings on Washington Ave between 15th and 16th St |
Christine Fisher covered the plan over at PlanPhilly.
Plans call for reducing most of Washington Ave from 4 lanes to 3 and adding back-in angle parking. More loading zones will be created to mitigate double parking in the bike lanes. Two exceptions to this: stretches from 13th to 16th, and from 5th to Columbus Avenue, will retain the current 4 lane and parallel parking configuration.
The entire corridor will include east-west standard (5 foot) bike lanes from end to end, bike boxes at Columbus, 22nd, and 11th streets, and bike racks at 9th, 10th and 11th Streets to accommodate bicycle shoppers in the Italian Market. The final striping plans are subject to discretion of the Streets Department, so the final result may vary from these plans.
The South of South Neighborhood Association (SOSNA) scanned the documents below for the section west of Broad St.
