Chestnut Street: Loading Only

Curbside Parking Here Is a Waste of Valuable Space

Chestnut street every day. (Nov. 10, 2023.)

Something good happened on October 26, 2023. It happened in Philadelphia's City Council chamber in our lovely old City Hall. I hadn't been to a City Council meeting in quite a while, but when I received notice that a certain bill was up for passage, I decided to go for a visit. 

The meeting was scheduled for 10 am to 1 pm. I knew from experience that these meetings never start on time, but I decided to show up at ten and go through the whole performance. Shortly after I arrived, members started entering the chamber and drifting toward their desks, talking to one another, and there was a general air of geniality and possibly even happiness. The socializing, and possibly horse trading, went on for some time. In the past, I had found myself somewhat impatient with this phase, but after what we've seen in Congress recently I was enjoying watching politicians knit themselves, and by extension the city, into a reasonably cohesive group.

The meeting came to order at 10:43, and in due course we got to the public comment section. Speakers addressed various bills under consideration. Connor Descheemaker, coalition manager at Transit Forward Philadelphia, spoke in favor of bill number 230489, Council Member Mark Squilla's bill to enable camera-assisted enforcement of parking violations in bus lanes and bus stops. Another supporter of the bill, Jessie Amadio, noted that prior experience showed the vast majority of people who got a ticket from a camera did not get a second ticket.

Eventually public comment came to an end, and Council turned to consideration of bills, among other business. The highly formulaic language of the voting ritual was encouraging me to nod off, but then 230489 came up for consideration. I perked up, the bill passed unanimously, and shortly afterwards Council, having completed its business, adjourned. At 12:31 pm, 29 minutes early.

I'm glad the bill passed. The cameras clearly alter driver behavior for the better. But it won't be enough. 

The Chestnut Puzzle

I have a particular concern for Chestnut street in Center City. I've been watching the stretch from Broad to 19th for a number of years (for stories, click here and here). Altering driver behavior is only part of the problem. We also need to look at the thinking and behavior of the people who run the stores and other businesses that line the street. And finally we need to look at the built environment and how we are using it.

Bus turning from 15th to Chestnut, Nov. 18, 2023.

Here's an interesting case. Around 5 pm on November 18, I found myself standing at the intersection of 15th and Chestnut, where I took this picture of a bus trying to turn from 15th onto Chestnut. There was a car stopped at the curb in the left-hand traffic lane of Chestnut, very close to the intersection and in front of a fire hydrant. The bus driver was having great difficulty making this turn, which means that traffic was backing up on both 15th and Chestnut. The driver of the car stopped at the fire hydrant clearly had no intention of moving his car unless there was an invasion by Martians - or perhaps Godzilla was marching toward him on Chestnut.

So he stayed put. It was, after all, only a Septa bus. And the bus driver worked and worked, and eventually got the bus around the corner.

It turns out there was a reason why the driver of the car was where he was. He was at the end of a line of double-parked cars extending almost the full block of 1400 Chestnut. There are two hotels on this block, and the entire block is either no stopping or valet parking. All of the curbside space was full of parked cars that were showing no signs of going anywhere. Next to them, in the left-hand traffic lane, was the string of double-parked cars. There were a number of valiant parking enforcement officers trying to cope with this situation, but they were not making a lot of progress.

(An early reader suggested I explain that this block, like several others on Chestnut in this area, has sidewalk bumpouts at crosswalks. That's why the car next to the fire hydrant is next to the curb, rather than next to a parked car.)

I suppose the cars may have been there because there was a teleporter at that location that was taking people to an event in Camden. Or perhaps they were attending an event at one of the hotels, and the valet parking system had simply broken down. I don't know.  

I do know that Chestnut street was not functioning very well that night. And the double-parked drivers were simply pawns. 

Emergency Vehicles and Traffic Jams 

Here's a rainy day shot. This is what it looks like out where the rubber hits the road.

Dec. 3, 2023.

Traffic jams are more than an annoyance; they can be life threatening. Imagine you've had one too many hamburgers at Five Guys and you're experiencing a myocardial infarction. How long will it take an emergency vehicle to reach you?

Use the Genius of the Grid: Activate the Alleys

One of the things that simply stupefies me about Philadelphia is our abysmal misuse of our alleys. If you look at the layout of the streets, and the way older buildings were built, it's apparent that alleys were originally intended to be much more than linear dung heaps. Rear access was clearly important for a variety of uses, and if you look at the number of bricked-up windows and doors, it's evident that buildings were meant to have a meaningful relationship with these little streets. There are even quite a few buildings that have front facades facing the alley.

And there is definitely some decent architecture. Here's an example of rear access in the grand manner.

1800 block of Sansom.

There are several imposing rear entrances in this neighborhood, but this one is in a class by itself. And it's still in use.

A number of these blocks see a fair amount of dropping off and picking up. Here's a UPS driver on the 1700 block of Stock Exchange Place. He's going going door to door on the north side of the street, knocking on rear doors and handing off packages. Not exactly rocket science, but you'll notice that he is not blocking a bus lane.

Dec. 14, 2023.

Most of these alleys don't get a lot of sunlight at street level, but if you can pick your eyes up from the muck at your feet for a moment, there are some interesting views available higher up.

It's at moments like this that I find myself comparing us to the shepherds in old Rome, in the centuries after the aqueducts were cut, herding their flocks among the grassy ruins.

Arch of Constantine and Colosseum with sheep grazing. 

(The picture above is a 1656 etching by Stefano della Bella in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is in the public domain.)

Some People Don't Have Rear Access

The man standing in the truck bed and his crew are unloading construction materials for yet another redo of the old Valiant building, next to Boyds. He's in the bus lane, and he has no options. The parking/loading lane across the street is full, and there doesn't appear to be any viable rear access.

November 20, 2023.

Chestnut is not a large street, and I think it's time we faced up to the fact that we need to focus on the two main things: buses and loading. There are more than 3,000 off-street parking stalls in garages within 1.5 blocks of this location. Curbside parking on this stretch of Chestnut is a waste of valuable space.

As we saw with the car parked in a traffic lane in front of a fire hydrant at 15th and Chestnut, increasing the number of loading zones is not a cure-all. But at least we would be moving toward a rational design for the limited amount of space available; and with competent management, including buy-in from the local merchants, maximizing the space for loading zones should dramatically improve the performance of Chestnut street.

See also Unblocking the Bus Lane on Chestnut, Taming Chestnut Street, Small Streets Are Like Diamonds, What Should We Do With the Humble Dumpster? Quo Vadis, Philadelphia?