PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by Skintreesnail

I think this was what I was remembering:

https://www.pahighways.com/interstates/I676.html

I was always a fan of this plan by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society. It allows people coming down 6th St to take the same shorter ramp as people coming off 676, whereas if it went over 6th St, it would force people coming down 6th St to take the indirect approach, which would still cause a lot of congestion at that corner. It reduces the lane count to three lanes south of there and shortens the crossing distance for pedestrians and creates a much larger contiguous green space.

PHS has bold plans to redo base of Ben Franklin Bridge

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

I was always a fan of this plan by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society. It allows people coming down 6th St to take the same shorter ramp as people coming off 676, whereas if it went over 6th St, it would force people coming down 6th St to take the indirect approach, which would still cause a lot of congestion at that corner. It reduces the lane count to three lanes south of there and shortens the crossing distance for pedestrians and creates a much larger contiguous green space.

PHS has bold plans to redo base of Ben Franklin Bridge

Love it. Looks exactly like my proposed charges in red and blue.



Is there any hope of this actually happening?

Oh and thanks for posting that map Skintreesnail, very interesting, though to be frank, I'm having a difficult time understanding it

[Justin7]

Originally Posted by allovertown

Red: This is the biggest problem with the area. So many drivers get off 676 then down 6th to get on the BFB. Instead of the ramp here coming down to street level, it should remain at the same grade as 676 and run directly beside 676 and right onto the BFB. All that traffic stays off the streets. The only downside is a wider overpass that peds have to walk under when going down 6th or 7th, but it's already a wide overpass, what's another 20 feet? Both should have a beautified pedestrian experience anyway. Also drivers will no longer be able to get off 676 and head straight down 6th street, which currently a lot of drivers do. But who cares, just get off one exit sooner and go south on 8th or stay on 676 to go south on 95. These minor inconveniences are more than worth it to keep all of this speeding traffic off the roads.

I don't think it's even necessary to add width. There are currently too many lanes heading west. Have the two bridge exit lanes cross over on terra firma between 6th and 7th.

[McBane]

I agree this is a mess of roads that should be fixed. But replacing it with green space, to me, isn't worth the expense, unless there's a critical mass ready to utilize it. Franklin Square is right there and, even with the improvements, is still underused. Another underused green space will just become a magnet for the homeless.

Maybe if there are other incremental changes to other nearby streets (like those suggested by Allovertown) and something exciting gets built in place of the Roundhouse then maybe conditions could be ripe to redevelop these car lanes into green space, or better yet, sell the land to a developer.

I don't know if this is the right way to go, but that's my 2 cents at least.