It's Our City is a project that uses TV, Radio and Web
to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Poll: What option would you want for the South Street bridge?
Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 3:46 pm - by Dan Pohlig. Filed under: Transportation.
Two days ago I wrote with some interest about a little bit of information that I came across in a story about the South Street bridge reconstruction. Long story short, traffic on I-76 seems to be moving along pretty well without the South Street entrance and exit ramps and it seems that street traffic in the area has “calmed itself” in the words of one Streets Department representative.
Today, the Penn Relays head into their main events of the weekend, WHYY’s Susan Phillips chatted with some folks at Penn about how they are going to cope with the loss of this route during one of their busiest weekends:
Maureen Rush is in charge of public safety at the University of Pennsylvania. She says vendors have been restricted to South Street, and there is parking available. But Rush says anyone heading to the races should take SEPTA.
Rush: Clearly the best option would be to really take public transportation and get off at 30th street or get off at University City station right behind Penn Tower hotel there.
Rush is a little less glowing in her review of new traffic going across the river, citing congestion on the Chestnut and Market Street bridges, but she does mention that after initial issues with exiting and entering I-76 at the University Ave. exit, “that sort of went away.”
So what do you think? The three theoretical options for rebuilding the South Street bridge are in the poll below. Feel free to let us know why you voted the way you did in the comments section. We’ll try to get some “cross tabs” matching your vote with some identification about whether your experience with the bridge was primarily as (a) an I-76 user who used the South Street exit frequently, (b) an I-76 user who almost never used those exits, (c) a driver who almost never used I-76 but often crossed the river on the bridge, (d) a walker or bike rider who often used the bridge or (e) none of the above, have no idea what bridge I’m talking about. Poll is below (update: I added “and back” to the no exit ramps option so folks know that it is still a two-way bridge, apologies if this changes your answer).
April 24th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I’ll start… I’ve used the exit ramps many times on my way to and from my neighborhood in Passyunk Square but I’ve found that the University Ave. exit works just as well if not better and almost always enter I-76 from the Vare Ave. entrance. I also used the bridge many times as both a motorist and cyclist to cross the river. Rebuild the bridge, one lane in each direction to cars. Include protected bike lanes either in a median or on the sides and nice wide sidewalks for pedestrians. Definitely include entrance/exit “ramps” to the bike/jog path on the east side of the river. No ramps to I-76 mean no need for two lanes for cars in each direction.