City expected to propose bike lanes on 48th+47th Streets, 1-way traffic on 47th

The City of Philadelphia (Councilperson Gauthier's office, the Streets Department, and OTIS) is holding two upcoming community meetings to discuss traffic safety issues and potential changes to 47th and 48th Street. Meetings will be held at the 48th and Woodland Playground on September 18th and the school hall at Saint Francis de Sales Church on September 27th See the flyer below for details.

This is a direct outcome advocacy by hundreds of neighbors for a 48th Street Greenway, which began when PGW dug up the street two years ago and kicked into high gear when the Streets Department announced they would be repaving 48th Street without making any other improvements this past spring. As shared back in June, we then proposed a set of changes we saw as both impactful and pragmatic. In addition to stop signs and bump outs (shortened crosswalks) in various locations, the core of our proposal was to reconfigure the vehicular section of 48th Street to the narrower width of 47th or 60th Streets (maintaining 2-way traffic with parking on both sides) and use the remaining space to create a 2-way bike way separated from traffic. The street has since been paved, and we've been patiently waiting for the city to consider and respond to our proposal as they decide how to stripe it.

So what can we expect to see at these meetings?

We don't have all the details, but from what we understand, the city will discuss a proposal for protected bike lanes somewhat different from the community proposal. This is expected to include:

• Parking-protected bike lane on one side of 48th Street (which would otherwise operate the same as it does today)

• Parking protected bike lane in the other direction on 47th Street

• Conversion of 47th Street to 1-way operation (northbound) from Grays Ferry Avenue to Chestnut Street to create space for the bike lane

• Unclear if addition of stop signs to uncontrolled intersections (such as Windsor or Sansom) or conversion of traffic signals to stop signs (such as at Kingsessing or Locust) will be included

We are happy to see that the City is responding to community action for safer streets and better connected communities, but these are big potential changes; what do you think of them? You can email us at 48thstreetgreenway@gmail.com, and let us know if you'd like to get email updates on this topic!

Please consider attending one or both of the upcoming meetings. If you have neighbors you think would be interested to hear more give feedback on these potential changes, please share the flyer and invite them to join you.