Grants allow city planners to study transportation on Washington Ave., transit-oriented development in East Kensington

[Brian616]

From the PlanPhilly article:

Grants allow city planners to study transportation on Washington Ave., transit-oriented development in East Kensington | PlanPhilly: Planning Philadelphia's Future

The eastern portion of Washington Avenue is home to many large-scale businesses with big parking lots including several busy Asian grocery stores and restaurants, said Planning Commission Executive Director Gary Jastrzab. There is now “development pressure” to put in retail and commercial strip developments on the western portion, Jastrzab said. “We want to see if there is a better solution.”

All of this vehicular traffic flowing in and out of parking lots leads to congestion and confusion along Washington Avenue, Jastrzab said. Working with community organizations, the area business community and the mayor's office of transportation and utilities, the planning commission hopes will take a “systematic look” at what's happening and come up with recommendations for a solution that improves movement for pedestrians, cars, buses and bicyclists. Recommendations might include adding additional public transportation, Jastrzab said.

I'll leave the Kenzo stuff to someone with more experience, but Washington Ave is often a cluster**** of traffic. The lights are not timed well (unless it's on purpose for traffic calming), and the bike lanes are poorly used. It's a pipe dream, but that street is actually a good fit for an El line. It's very wide, and there's not too much residential on the street.

[mixiboi]

Light Rail would be cheaper....And actually feasible with modifications that the traffic is put inside the median....


Or how about a Washington Ave Greenway?

Spring Garden Street Greenway

[FreedomeRider]

Light rail to the big box stores would be intriguing. I just picture trolleys plunging into a sinkhole at wash and 11th. The timing on the lights IS dreadful, as it encourages and punishes sprints equally.

[palvar]

The lights are not timed well (unless it's on purpose for traffic calming)

It is on purpose and it is for traffic calming. Strangely enough, driving on that street rarely makes me feel calm.

Narrow roads make people drive slowly, not traffic lights.

[Brian616]

It is on purpose and it is for traffic calming. Strangely enough, driving on that street rarely makes me feel calm.

Narrow roads make people drive slowly, not traffic lights.

Gotta love Philly doing traffic calming on a self-designated "arterial" street.

[Tartan69]

It is on purpose and it is for traffic calming.

Can someone explain to me how purposely poor timing of lights calms traffic? If lights are timed to be green the whole way if you drive a certain speed limit, and if you go any faster you hit a red, isn't that inherently calming? The key is to have good signage to let drivers know that the fastest way to get through the lights is to NOT exceed that speed.

Seriously, this seems like common sense to me. Am I missing something?