Quote:
Originally Posted by CentralGrad258
There are a couple major roadblocks to Philly being a truly seamless walkable city.
1. Center City, by far the most walkable area of the city is cut off from the rest of the city on 3 sides. The rivefront is essentially cut off by I-95. West Philly is cut of by Skuylkill and I-76- the crossing bridges are not especially pedestrian friendly. North Philly (including walkable neighborhoods like Fairmount, NoLibs and Fishtown) is cut off by Vine Street expressway and the expansive no-man's land between Callowhill and Spring Garden. Even Ben Franklin Parkway is not especially pleasant pedestrian experience.
2. Public transportation still kinda sucks. Yeah, it's decent by American standards, but you can only walk so far, right? With only two subway lines, the pedestrian options become more limited. Buses and trolleys are decent, but there's nothing like rapid transit to make walking a viable option.
IMO, Philly is a decent pedestrian town, but getting around by pedal bike is where it's at.
|
I find it funny that Philadelphian's are ALWAYS Philadelphia's strongest critic.
-How is the west cut off by I-76 when I-76 runs UNDER the street grid? The only gap in in development is the Schuylkill River... and with all of the parks and new highrises cropping up, the connection between Center City and UCity is becoming ever stronger.
-The Vine Street Expressway is an easy solution... cap it with parks. Done.
-I-95 is the BIGGEST obstacle. However, I-95 can be capped with parks from Race Street to South Street... as for the rest of 95, it runs above grade and there is currently plans to build "connectors" in each underpass connecting the city to the Delaware Waterfront much like the Race Street Connector.
http://phillyshark.blogspot.com/2011...-now-open.html
As for public transit... really? I understand the U.S. is pretty lacking in public transit but the ONLY cities in the US with better public transit than Philadelphia is NYC and Chicago... maybe arguably Boston. Philadelphia has a pretty great public transit system for an American City....