2. Introduction

Bicycling and pedestrian activities are the only two major modes of transportation that are non-polluting, healthy, extremely cost- and energy-efficient. Because of these reasons, and the high level of accessibility for these two modes of transit when compared to other modes, cycling and walking are the preferred modes for diverse groups of people, from environmentally conscious families to health-focused seniors to cash-strapped students. Moreover, there are a number of quantified benefits of cycling and pedestrian activities. An increase in pedestrian and cycling activities is strongly correlated with economic growth for local businesses, growth in tourism, an increase in home values, and reduced health care costs.[1]

Grays Ferry Avenue, located in South Philadelphia, is a street that acts as both a border and barrier for the northern end of the large Grays Ferry neighborhood. It is a multi-lane street with few crosswalks and little greenery. It is also a dangerous place to be, whether in an automobile, on a bicycle, or as a pedestrian. Every year there are numerous crashes leading to injuries and death that occur along the nearly 2-mile road that constitutes Grays Ferry Avenue, presenting a real danger to any person who approaches the area, regardless of the mode of transportation.

This plan addresses the many dangers and shortcomings that Grays Ferry Avenue, and the immediate surrounding trail network, present. There are three overarching goals that this plan will address:

1.       Encourage environmentally sustainable modes of transit

2.       Ensure safe and accessible roads for all users

3.       Reconnect underserved neighborhoods

The first goal this plan addresses is to encourage environmentally sustainable modes of transit. As mentioned previously, this is inherent in any bicycle and pedestrian plan, because cycling and pedestrian activities are non-polluting. This goal also aligns with the most recent iteration of the City of Philadelphia’s Climate Action Playbook, in which the City commits to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.[2] Because emissions from transportation typically make up the greatest share of emissions in an urban setting, encouraging residents to walk/roll, cycle, and take public transportation, will be crucial to reaching this goal.

The second goal of this plan is to ensure safe and accessible roads for all users. As Grays Ferry Avenue currently stands, it is unsafe for all users. The wide vehicular travel lanes of Grays Ferry Avenues, encourage high driving speeds, which lead to more frequent and more dangerous crashes. The lack of protected and separated bicycle facilities puts cyclists extremely close to drivers of automobiles, who may not even notice cyclists on the road, putting many bicyclists' lives in danger. Also, the lack of crosswalks and wide streets puts pedestrians in danger, many of whom do not have a proper place to cross the street and must traverse multiple lanes of traffic to get to the other side of the street.

Finally, our third goal is to reconnect underserved neighborhoods, particularly those that are adjacent to Grays Ferry Avenue: the neighborhoods of Grays Ferry, Forgotten Bottom, and Devils Pocket. The neighborhood of Grays Ferry, in particular, is a predominately Black, low-income community that has historically been underserved and has faced disinvestment.[3] While there are a number of assets in the area surrounding Grays Ferry, such as the Schuylkill Riverfront and shopping center, Grays Ferry Avenue acts as a barrier and obstacle. Due to the aforementioned difficulty involved in crossing the Avenue, few residents do or even can access the Schuylkill Riverfront and shopping center unless in a private automobile, and even that presents dangers in of itself. Thus, our third and final goal is to chip away at the barrier that is Grays Ferry Avenue, ultimately reconnecting the local urban fabric to the many amenities and assets that surround the area.

[1] Todd Littman, “Evaluating Active Transport Benefits and Costs: Guide to Valuing Walking and Cycling Improvements and Encouragement Programs.” (Victoria, Australia: Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 2022).

[2]https://www.phila.gov/2021-01-15-city-commits-to-carbon-neutrality-by-2050-releases-climate-action-playbook-and-hires-first-chief-resilience-officer/

[3] https://web.archive.org/web/20051202201425/http://citypaper.net/articles/2005-08-04/cover.shtml

3. Neighborhood Overview

Figure 3.1. Automobile and bicycle crashes along Grays Ferry Avenue (highlighted in yellow) and 34th Street from 2007 to 2020

            The dangers associated with transportation in the Grays Ferry neighborhood are restricted to pedestrians and bicycles. All users – including drivers – must contend with busy and fast roadways and a high frequency of accidents. The high case count of reported accidents (Figure 3.1), as well as estimated unreported accidents, makes these roadways a daunting means of transportation. Grays Ferry avenue also acts as an impassible barrier for residents as it cuts off access to the commercial shopping center across the street, as well as access to the riverfront.

            This neighborhood is currently underserved by existing transportation methods. As one resident, Meeka Outlaw, notes: “Two of the main issues [with transportation in Grays Ferry] are that [the buses] don’t come as often as they should and that they don’t run far enough into West Philly and Center City.” This connection to major employment hubs is essential as “many residents in Grays Ferry travel outside the neighborhood to work. It’s beneficial to have job opportunities close to where you live so you don’t have to spend money and energy traveling to get to your income opportunity,” Carly Frintner notes. Carly goes on to describe the existing public transportation infrastructure, “if people are waiting for a bus they should be able to be relatively comfortable. If it’s raining, cold, or snowing, there should be a basic shelter or place to sit. There are a lot of elderly folks or disabled folks here...it’s just basic human decency to provide that kind of thing. We have it in Center City but pretty much nowhere else.”

In talking with residents, it was clear there was a dissatisfaction with the existing infrastructure. Where the Crescent Trail could operate as a park and means of transportation, it currently does not connect with the existing trail network. In addition, it is viewed as an ill-maintained park.  As one respondent notes: “Crescent Trail Park is nice, but right next to waste management and often smells awful, especially in summer.”

            Currently, Grays Ferry residents are underserved by public transit and other transport methods but are not heard in their concerns.  “If things don’t go your way, as a community, as a business, understand the community has spoken...It’s hard for community members to feel as though their voice is not heard and not understood. Get the input from them, get their insight, and understand that some of the things that they’re going to tell you may not have been on your radar,” says Tyrique Glasgow, a Grays Ferry resident.

4. Phase 1: Grays Ferry Avenue

Current Conditions and Context

Grays Ferry Avenue in its current state is a threat to the lives of anyone who uses it. The approximately two-mile length of the road is a functionally multi-lane highway, with high-speeding vehicles and regular crashes, resulting in numerous injuries and fatalities. Figure 4.2 illustrates the large number of crashes that occur on this street. It is also important to note that Figure 4.2 only shows those crashes which are reported to the police, which surely only covers a fraction of total crashes. According to the authors’ own site visits, there are regular crashes that are not reported to the police.

Figure 4.2. Automobile and bicycle crashes along Grays Ferry Avenue (highlighted in yellow) and 34th Street.

To the north of Grays Ferry Avenue, there are many amenities and local assets, such as access to the Schuylkill Riverfront, the Grays Ferry shopping center– which includes the only large grocery store for the Forgotten Bottom and Grays Ferry neighborhoods, the Crescent Ferry Crescent Trail Run Park, and the currently under construction extension of the Schuylkill River Trail. To the south of Grays Ferry Avenue lies the Grays Ferry neighborhood, a predominately Black, low-income community numbering approximately 18,500 residents. Due to its large width, approximately 80  feet wide, lack of frequent crosswalks, high speeding cars, lack of sufficient bicycle lanes, Grays Ferry Avenue is a barrier and obstacle for residents of Grays Ferry who would like to access these many amenities.

While there is technically a bicycle lane that runs along the length of Grays Ferry Avenue (Figure 4.4), it is simply a painted shoulder and nothing more. This is extremely dangerous for cyclists, who may attempt to use the bicycle lane but will expose themselves to the high-speed vehicles who may not even notice that a bike lane exists. Upon a site visit to Grays Ferry, we witnessed many cars driving in the bike lane, something that we were able to capture in a photograph that encapsulated this very issue (Figure 4.3).

Other issues which discourage pedestrians and cyclists from safely using Grays Ferry Avenue include the lack of greenery, something that can clearly be seen in the site analysis in Figure 4.4. This causes problems such as lingering air pollution and higher temperatures in the summer due to the consequences of the urban heat island effect. Also, residents whom we speak with during our site visits complained about the lack of permanent transit shelters, something that particularly affects vulnerable populations in times of heat, rain, snow, or other inclement weather.

Case Study: New York City, Allen, and Pike Streets

Similar to Grays Ferry Avenue, Allen and Pike Streets of New York City was at one point a massive thoroughfare that had three travel lanes in each direction, long and insufficient crosswalks, and bicycle lanes that presented a danger more than any real safety to cyclists. Similar to what we witnessed on our site visit to Grays Ferry Avenue, Allen, and Pike Streets prior to transformation had a reputation for unsafe and hazardous conditions, such as cars driving well over the posted speed limit, cars in bike lanes, and major turning conflicts at intersections. Like Grays Ferry Avenue, there were a large number of crashes and collisions on Allen and Pike Streets.

Starting in 2010, the New York City Department of Transportation began to redesign and reconstruct Allen and Pike Streets. Bicycle lanes were moved from the street directly next to vehicular traffic to a separated track, utilizing flexible bollards and planters to create separation from dangerous vehicles. New signals and new crosswalks were added to intersections, making the pedestrian experience more pleasant and safer. Importantly, a travel lane was removed for cars as sidewalks and bicycle lanes were widened. That was coupled with a reduction in the size of remaining travel lanes for cars, moves which encouraged cars to slow down and pay more attention to the pedestrians and cyclists surrounding them.

This redesign was an instant success. Not only did it bring out more pedestrians and cyclists, but it also made Allen and Pike Streets safer and more accessible for all users. According to the New York City Department of Transportation, following the redesign and reconstruction of the streets, there was a 35 percent decrease in both motor vehicle and bike crashes involving injuries, and a 12 percent decrease in injuries for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists along the affected streets.[1] Additionally, bicyclist ridership increased by 43 percent northbound and 23 percent for southbound traffic.[2]

Proposal of Intervention

This plan calls for a redesign of Grays Ferry Avenue to achieve all three goals listed in this plan. The first step of this design is to remove one car line and replace it with a dedicated bus lane. When we conducted a site visit, residents of Grays Ferry complained of having to wait for up to an hour for a bus, often because the bus was stuck in traffic along Grays Ferry Avenue. Creating a dedicated travel lane will encourage more people to walk along Grays Ferry Avenue to catch a bus to take them elsewhere in and around Philadelphia.

Our design also reduces the width of vehicular travel lanes, causing cars to slow down and ultimately pay more attention to their surroundings, creating safer conditions for cyclists and pedestrians. Reducing the width of vehicular travel lanes also gives us more room on the street to relocate and convert the insufficient and dangerous bicycle lane into a raised and separated bicycle track. This will encourage more cyclists to utilize the facility and will greatly reduce collisions, injuries, and fatalities of cyclists. This will be coupled with the widening of the sidewalks, which will give more space for pedestrians and allow for more tree plantings.

This design also calls for the planting of greenery along Grays Ferry Avenue. The lack of trees causes numerous issues. Trees along Grays Ferry Avenue will not only make the road more beautiful and pleasant but will also capture emissions from vehicles and capture and reduce air pollution. Also, increased tree and green planting will mitigate the urban heat island effect, which causes higher temperatures in the area surrounding the Avenue due to the excess asphalt, which captures the heat of the sun, making the walking and cycling experience unpleasant, particularly in the summer.

Redesigning Grays Ferry Avenue will not only encourage more bicyclists and pedestrians to utilize the thoroughfare, but it will also make it a safer, more attractive place to spend time, act as a connector rather than a barrier, and stimulate economic growth in the neighborhood, region, and city.

Figure 4.8. Rendering of a section of Grays Ferry before design implementation

Figure 4.9. Rendering of a section of Grays Ferry after design implementation

[1] https://nacto.org/case-study/left-side-bike-lanes-on-allen-pike-st-new-york-ny/

[2] Ibid.