The Mustangs of 23rd Street

How to Dismantle Havoc

Crossing 23rd at Fitler Square.

The bike lane network in Center City Philadelphia is much better than it was just a few years ago, but there are still major gaps. One of the more significant lies in my neighborhood, the southwest quadrant of William Penn's original plan. 

We have a very nice bike lane heading north on 22nd Street. It starts deep in South Philly, runs through Center City, and then extends well to the north. Unfortunately it lacks a southbound pair, which means it's easy to use the 22nd lane to go somewhere, but coming back you have to get inventive. Or you could say screw it and take the car. But then, of course, you'll need to find a parking place, and another one when you get home.

The two obvious choices for a southbound pair are 21st Street and 23rd Street. It's my understanding that our local member of City Council, Kenyatta Johnson, has been unable for a number of years to decide where he would like the southbound lane to go. 

I've decided to give Mr. Johnson a helping hand. I think 23rd is the preferable choice for several reasons. First, the motor-vehicle traffic on 23rd is even more unruly than it is on 21st; second, 23rd runs next to Fitler Square, which is often heavily populated with small children, many of whom cross 23rd to get to Fitler Square; and third, 23rd runs across South Street and into Grays Ferry Avenue, creating any number of dangerous situations at that location.

At the Goddard School, Pine and 22nd.

I suggest that the bike lane should replace one of the two motor-vehicle lanes on 23rd, thereby eliminating the abrupt lane changes that are one of the main hazards created by the current two-lane configuration of the street.

Changing streets from two lanes of motor-vehicle traffic to one is a proven traffic calming measure. We need look no further than Pine and Spruce streets for a successful example. (Pine and Spruce continue to have the problem of illegal parking in the bike lanes, but the City and the Philadelphia Parking Authority are taking measures to improve that situation.)

Pine at 17th.

My ideal outcome for 23rd Street would have this new bike lane run from just south of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and through to Bainbridge. In the north, 23rd Street is interrupted at the Parkway and resumes at Summer Street, near the Franklin Institute. Motor-vehicle traffic is heaviest further south, between Market Street and Walnut Street, because of the three bridges across the Schuylkill at Market, Chestnut, and Walnut.

The folks at the City's Streets Department might well balk at a bike lane on the two blocks near the bridges. If they do, I'd recommend asking for the northern stretch, which could run south from Summer Street to Market, where it would connect with the bike lanes on Market. After Penndot finishes renovating the Market Street bridge, we may well have excellent bike lanes across the bridge, and also connecting to the Schuylkill Banks.

As for the level of traffic on 23rd from Summer to Market, recently this stretch has been a de facto one-lane street because of all the construction. Call it a natural experiment. If one lane is good enough when the construction workers need the other lane for their tools and toys, perhaps it would also be okay to install a bike lane.

As for the potential gap in the bike lane between Market and Walnut, the obvious workaround is to run the bike lane down 24th Street. The lane could go down Ludlow, just south of Market, from 23rd to 24th, and then down 24th, returning to 23rd at Delancey. 

The proposal, drawn at the beach.

South of Locust, 24th has parking on both sides of the street, so the bike lane would likely have to become a share-the-road enterprise. Not ideal, but quite a lot better than nothing. 

Now let's look at the southern piece of 23rd. The stretch from Walnut down past South Street seems perfectly feasible, but if Streets balks again, a fallback position could be starting the lane just north of Fitler Square, at Delancey.

I think traffic calming around Fitler Square is crucial because of the large number of children who currently visit the park. In addition to families bringing their kids, there are school groups coming from two locations of the Goddard School, the main one at 22nd and Pine and the annex on 23rd just south of South. (It's easy to miss this southern location - it's directly above the Amazon hub at 23rd and South.) 

The two sites have a total enrollment of around 200, and these children go to Fitler Square on a regular basis.

Goddard above the Amazon hub.

I of course favor running the bike lane down 23rd from Summer Street to Bainbridge, but any of the outcomes outlined above would be a huge win, both for the evolving network of bike lanes in this city, and for traffic calming on 23rd Street. 

Dismissal at Greenfield.

Finally, here's another argument for having the bike lane run on 23rd between Market and Walnut: the need to provide safe southbound bicycle access to the Greenfield School, a K-8 public elementary school that lies between 22nd and 23rd, just south of Chestnut. The school has around 650 students, and its catchment area extends north to the Parkway.

Encouraging families to walk and bike to school should be a major focus of traffic planning in Center City Philadelphia. There is significant latent demand for child-friendly routes to school, and more walking and biking would help clear the air and unclog the streets. 

Here's a shot of Independence Charter School, a K-8 school at Lombard and 17th. It was taken some years ago, and the part of the play yard facing Lombard has now been replaced by a new building. But I keep coming back to the bicycle here, which I think reminds us of the strong attraction that bikes can have for boys and girls, if they're given half a chance. 

For a comprehensive update on bicycling and bicycle infrastructure in and around Philadelphia, see I BikePHL 2023, from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. 

See also Focus on the Short Trips, Getting Kids Back on Their Bikes, Missing the Point, Bike Lane Seeks Mate, Those Pesky Bike Lanes.