Relieving Pressure on the Schuylkill Banks

Six Feet of Separation Requires New Thinking

They're actually hopping up on one foot.

As the coronavirus continues, and we spend more and more time cooped up indoors, the value of spending a little bit of time outdoors continues to increase. However, we need to be able to do this safely, and right now we don't have enough space to maintain the magic six feet between individuals. The obvious answer is to repurpose underused street space away from motor vehicles and give it to the non-motorized residents.

I'm hoping we can get car-free streets throughout the city, but my particular concern right now is freeing up space that can relieve pressure on the Schuylkill Banks.

This morning I walked up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from Logan Square to the Art Museum, and then I walked back home on the Schuylkill Banks.

I am frankly surprised that the City hasn't closed the outer lanes on the Parkway yet. These lanes are aimed directly at both Martin Luther King Drive and Kelly Drive. Normally they're dominated by cars. Freed up for non-motorized traffic, I think you would see them drawing substantial numbers of pedestrians and cyclists. The existing bike lane on 22nd Street makes the Parkway route to the park drives particularly attractive for cyclists.

This morning's motor vehicle traffic on the Parkway was light and would easily be handled by the inner lanes. I simply don't see any reason not to turn this space over to pedestrians and bicyclists.

On the Schuylkill Banks, traffic was very light this morning, but it was still difficult to maintain six feet of clearance, particularly at the bridges, some of which create serious neckdowns, and also on the hill by the skateboard park. There were a few people walking, like me, but most of the traffic was runners - many runners, mostly solo - with fewer cyclists and a smattering of grownups pushing children in strollers..

The thought occurred to me, as I walked, that the current situation is not sustainable. Traffic on the Banks will only increase as the weather gets warmer, and if nothing is done to redirect some of that traffic, I greatly fear that health concerns will lead the City to close down the Schuylkill Banks. This would be, I think, a very unpopular move.

I'm hoping that we can, instead, open the outer lanes on the Parkway to non-motorized traffic. I don't know that this move will solve the whole problem, but it will definitely make a dent in it and perhaps lead us to other useful measures that we may not be seeing clearly right now.

On a personal note, I trained for ten marathons largely on the Schuylkill Banks, the two park drives, and the Belmont Plateau. As I watched the runners on my walk today, I knew how much this time in this space meant to them. If we can manage to hold on to that, we will have done something special.

Needs a sawhorse or two.

See also My Life in Fairmount Park.