Chestnut Walnut Repaving and Complete Streets Safety Project

A map of improvements coming to Walnut and Chestnut Streets
Jun 14, 2021 2 years ago
Notes

The City of Philadelphia's Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability (oTIS) has launched a new initiative called the Chestnut & Walnut Repaving & Complete Streets Safety Project. They are seeking community feedback on redesign options for Walnut Street from 22nd to 63rd Street and Chestnut Street from 63rd Street to 34th Street.

OTIS is engaging the community through multiple mediums including an online and a paper survey in English and Spanish, phone, text messages, and email to residents and businesses along the six-mile corridor. OTIS will also host outdoor public open houses on Thursday, June 17th, and Tuesday, June 29th, at the Walnut Hill Community Playground and the Laura Sims Skate House, respectively, where residents can learn more about the project and provide feedback. Residents can find more information about the project, surveys, and open houses on the project website on Phila.gov.

During the past months, City staff spoke to neighborhood groups, community stakeholders, and business groups in the area to learn more about their concerns about traffic safety. OTIS compiled this feedback and worked with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) to perform traffic analysis to see which options would work and which would not work to guide the design options. Now, OTIS wants to hear what the community, residents and road users think about the proposed traffic safety improvements on Chestnut and Walnut Streets.

Road safety on Chestnut and Walnut Streets is a high priority for the City and for neighbors. Sections of both streets are on the City’s Vision Zero High Injury Network, where 80 percent of crashes in the city happen on 10 percent of streets. Along the six-mile project area, there were almost 700 crashes from 2015 to 2019. There were five fatal crashes, where people were killed.

The project will use committed state funds and will focus on improving the safety of Chestnut and Walnut Streets for all road users by:

  • Creating a smoother street
  • Creating safer and shorter pedestrian crossings
  • Keeping sidewalks and crosswalks clear of parked cars
  • Calming vehicle traffic by decreasing speeding, weaving, and aggressive driving
  • Separating people biking from people walking and people driving
  • Keeping traffic moving at a predictable, reliable, and safe speed.

 

Residents, road users, and businesses along the six-mile stretch are encouraged to watch a series of short videos explaining the details of the project and the design options for both streets. After watching the videos, there are multiple ways residents can provide input on the design options and stay informed about the project:

 

The City will review all input received to help select a safer Chestnut and Walnut Streets. There are several ways to find out more and get involved in this project:

  • View the Program page on Phila.gov with resources and information in various languages
  • Watch a series of short videos explaining the details of the project and the design options for both streets Fill out this brief survey (available in English and Spanish) by July 15, 2021.
  • View and submit your traffic safety concerns on this Interactive map
  • Attend one of two public open houses: June 17th at the Walnut Hill Community Playground and June 29th at the Laura Sims Skate House, each from 5-7PM