For some, the changes to Walnut were unexpected. 33rd to 63rd is a large stretch of street that many people travel on using different modes. Maybe those driving were caught off guard when they tried to merge but the new street layout didn't allow it. Change of any kind takes some adjusting, and usually comes with questions about why things had to change.
In the case of Walnut Street, the City decided to take advantage of repaving to implement a redesign, following Complete Streets principles (more on these in a moment) to increase safety on the corridor, with the nearby Chestnut Street serving as an example. Why was this street a candidate for a redesign?
This corridor has issues with traffic safety. Between 2018 and 2022, there were 331 reported crashes on Walnut Street between 33rd St and 63rd St in West Philadelphia. Though some crashes cause damage to property, some do have a higher cost. Data from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) shows that these crashes caused 214 injuries, with 15 people seriously injured, and three deaths. Serious injuries and fatal crashes are highlighted in red.
Vision Zero Philadelpia is an iniative in the city working to improve traffic safety, with the goal of zero traffic deaths. To reach this goal, Vision Zero works with the City on safety improvement projects, much like the repavement project on Walnut Street.
To understand where in the city to focus traffic safety efforts, the City and Vision Zero used crash data to create the High Injury Network. As it turns out, 80% of traffic deaths and serious injuries happen on just 12% of Philadelphia streets. The High Injury Network shows us where these streets are.
A portion of Walnut Street from 49th to 63rd is part of the network.
Creating safer streets is an effort that involves planning, policy, and community engagement.
Transportation planners help design and implement changes that affect how we move around. To make those changes, they need the support of governments to support the implementation of plans through things like funding and permits. Community engagement is a vital part of this equation, as it's extremely important to involve community members in decision-making processes. Steps are being taken to make each step of this process more accessible to community members and improve equity in planning projects.
Who were the key players in this project?
A description from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission's Complete Streets Resurfacing web page offers an overview of who is behind this project.
"This effort is being coordinated between the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), PennDOT District 6, and the City of Philadelphia with the goal of identifying roads that are good candidates for complete streets facilities. Additionally, DVRPC assists the City of Philadelphia with an iterative design process that uses capacity analysis to assess the traffic impacts of proposed complete streets investments."
As we saw, PennDOT oversees and handles many transportation operations throughout the state, including collecting data like the crash data used for this project. DVRPC is a metropolitan planning organization, who helps governments in the Philadelphia region with planning projects through collaboration, research, and funding programs. For this project, they did an analysis of traffic to see if there would be consequences to any of the proposed Complete Streets designs. The City office involved is OTIS, the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems . They are part of many planning projects in the City, and work closely with Vision Zero projects and Complete Streets.
The City of Philadelphia's Complete Streets web page defines Complete Streets: "Complete Streets are safe, comfortable, and convenient. They are designed and operated to ensure safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders, regardless of age and physical ability."
