Philadelphia 2035 (dangerous, work, restoration) - Pennsylvania (PA) - Page 83 - City-Data Forum

kidphilly · 10-10-2012, 10:30 AM

Philly Shark: Spring Garden Connector Project

BTA88 · 10-10-2012, 10:42 AM

I'm digging the Spring Garden Connector. That's going to be really nice.

drive carephilly · 10-10-2012, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kidphilly

Capping of Market to Walnut with better access at other points like SG and South would be a huge improvement.

There is still a ton of traffic that continues south

It would be an improvement but it's still not great.

There's not a ton of through traffic. The traffic counts between Christian & Oregon are lower than they are on JFK - a road that has far less capacity.

Quote:

also this would put even more traffic on 76, 676 and non highway streets

that's not really how it works. It might work that way for temporary detours or temporary road closures for construction projects but that's not what happens with permanent road closures. First, (i'm using the northerly direction as an example) 75% of the cars passing underneath the Ben Franklin are destined for South Philly/Center City to begin with so you're not "adding cars to the street" because they're already there . . . except instead of making all of those people exit at 3 different points - and causing tie-ups where they exit - their exiting locations are spread out over a dozen or more intersections. Traffic is also measured in VMT and people driving past their host to a closer exit, then doubling back to get home, adds to that traffic. Without those constraints and spread out on the grid most people chose the shortest route - which reduces traffic in the aggregate.

In any case, i'm not suggesting eliminating capacity that's being used. I'm saying that you don't need 120 ft. of concrete tearing through Old City, Society Hill and QV because as it is, it's been there for 40+ years and not many people are using it. In fact, traffic on I-95 south of Girard Ave. has gone down by 25% since 2006. You probably only need 70 ft. of that road space and it can be designed in a way that saves money, adds developable land and/or parkland and allows for a much more pleasant experience to anyone arriving there by any mode.