It is forbidden to cross 15th street on the south side of Arch. There are two little men who say so. They're stick figures, caught in the act of walking, and they each have a red line drawn through them.
It doesn't matter. People cross here with great regularity. All kinds of people, not just distracted people talking on cell phones. That's because everything about this intersection - except for the little men - tells people that this is an ordinary intersection with four functioning crosswalks.
I understand that the traffic engineers are trying to cope with traffic coming off the Vine Street Expressway, the Ben Franklin Parkway, and even westbound Arch street. But they really should throw in the towel, paint zebra stripes on the south side of Arch, and take down the little men.
I know this will slow the cars down, particularly the ones that are trying to turn onto 15th street. So be it.
See also Love Park Garage: Close the 15th Street Exit.
Bill, sometimes i'm more with it and thus with YOU on this. Have you looked into the reconstruction of Love Park - now actually begun! Do the plans have anything to do to address the situation you mark as this blog's title.
ReplyDeleteAlso, since it is on my mind now:
1) seen Blatstein/Klehr/Cope Linder Broad & Washington proposal publication for March Civic Design Forum? its first 25 pages are preliminary design architectural drawings & descriptive text. Its final half-dozen pages are JUST their Complete Streets application form. (all I could think was what a waste of 'paper' to include this mundane stuff in a prelim proposal? Since they'll have to meet it anyway, why does it need to be handled this way, I wondered.
2) On Sunday I'm signed up to help assemble bikes at First Unitarian ±10-4pm for Bike Coalition. You might enjoy it. I need to demonstrate to myself that I can make something of value to someone else. I'll try to get there.
3) I was overjoyed to read you had run a marathon in Paris.