The City just announced an exciting new project to improve roadway safety: a pilot project that will test an alternate roadway configuration between 15th and 20th Streets on both Market Street and JFK Boulevard.
How will this project change these streets as they are now?
To reduce speeding and weaving, the pilot project will test reconfiguring the roadway from four traffic lanes to three.
The project will include significant pedestrian safety improvements, such as shorter crossing distances and painted pedestrian areas defined by flexible delineator posts.
The pilot will also include parking protected bike lanes and new turn lanes on both JFK and Market.
Did you know that JFK Blvd. is actually the address of several residential buildings? These pedestrian safety improvements will not only benefit visitors and people who work on JFK and Market, but also people who live along the project.
The improvements will help define where people driving, walking, and bicycling should be while using the roadway.
Why were JFK and Market chosen for this project?
This project is the City’s latest effort as part of our Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries on Philadelphia’s streets by the year 2030.
Each year, there are approximately 100 traffic-related deaths in Philadelphia, including drivers, passengers, bicyclists and pedestrians.
Market Street is identified as a High Injury Network roadway by the City’s Vision Zero Action Plan.
The High Injury Network includes roadways across the city with high numbers of fatal crashes and crashes that result in severe injury.
Who’s leading this project and when will it start?
The project is being led jointly by the Office of Transportation & Infrastructure Systems (oTIS) and the Streets Department as a Vision Zero project.
The Market/JFK Vision Zero Pilot Project will start in spring 2018 and run for up to nine months.
In fall 2018, oTIS will work with Council President Darrell Clarke’s office to review the evaluation data and feedback to determine next steps for any permanent reconfigurations that should be made.
