MW27-Two Tales, One Road: Lessons from a Road Diet

There’s a road diet on the eastern half of Washington Avenue but not on the western half. Washington Avenue is a 5-lane arterial in South Philadelphia that touches Black, Vietnamese, Mexican and Italian communities along its route. It’s a quickly changing corridor with multiple large development projects. Take the bus to Washington Avenue and walk with local advocates and planners. Hear how Philadelphia politics and gentrification fears greatly impacted a roadway safety project a decade in the making. Discuss lessons learned from the road diet’s protracted planning and engagement process as well as early indications about the two road treatments’ outcomes for safety, multimodal access and local business activity. Take a break at Center City Pretzel Company for some soft Philly Pretzels fresh off the oven and time to contemplate how this tale of two road segments might play in your city. Ride back on the Broad Street subway, aka the B.

Photo: Four views of Washington Avenue. Credit: Will Tung.