Rising US traffic deaths put focus on one Philadelphia road

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Rising US traffic deaths put focus on one Philadelphia road

By CLAUDIA LAUER
May 31, 2022

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Just one more step and the stroller would have been on the curb.

The thought haunts Latanya Byrd years after a driver racing down Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia struck and killed her 27-year-old niece, Samara Banks, and three of Banks’ young sons as they crossed the 12-lane road. Today, many of the conditions that led to the fatal 2013 crash still exist.

Since the crash, Byrd became an advocate for safer streets, fighting to get automated speed cameras placed along the boulevard where 10% to 13% of the city’s traffic fatalities happened each year prior to the coronavirus pandemic, city officials said.

And now, amid a national surge in traffic fatalities that federal officials have called a crisis and studies showing Black communities have been hit even harder during the pandemic, plans to redesign the city’s “corridor of death” — as some residents and safety advocates call Roosevelt— could be gaining traction.

Roosevelt Boulevard is an almost 14-mile (23-kilometer) maze of chaotic traffic patterns that passes through some of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods and census tracts with the highest poverty rates. Driving can be dangerous with cars traversing between inner and outer lanes, but biking or walking on the boulevard can be even worse with some pedestrian crossings longer than a football field and taking four light cycles to cross.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/philadelphia-middle-east-only-on-ap-transportation-97a4602e7495a461ba0bb111db9c2149


The Philadelphia skyline, top, is seen at a distance as vehicular traffic flows along Roosevelt Boulevard at the intersection with Whitaker Avenue, Thursday, May 12, 2022, in Philadelphia. Roosevelt Boulevard is an almost 14-mile maze of chaotic traffic patterns that passes through some of the city's most diverse neighborhoods and Census tracts with the highest poverty rates. Driving can be dangerous with cars traversing between inner and outer lanes, but biking or walking on the boulevard can be even worse with some pedestrian crossings longer than a football field and taking four light cycles to cross. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

[3Hotdogs]

1. That is one "shit" road. I had to drive it twice, last month to take my friend to Trinity

Add, N.J.'s, US. 22 to the shit list.

[Tree-Hugger]

2. The BLVD is a shit show

They've tried different measures over the last decades - red light photos, speed cameras, timed lights, etc.

I've driven, walked, taken public transit on that roadway probably a million times in my life at this point. It's 12 lanes - 6 in each direction. Constant turning. Constant switching from the outer to inner sections of each 6 land direction. People speeding. People jaywalking. Panhandlers. Public transit busses stopping and re-entering traffic. I'm so used it, but it is honestly quite chaotic when you think about it. They build more and more around it, too. There's always been tons of houses and commerce along the BLVD, but they still find ways to squeeze more onto every parcel of land. A huge lot of Philly population gets to and from work/school via walking and public transit...usually a mix of both and manybof those folks will traverse the blvd at some point.

[mopinko]

3. ya know, there's some shitty intersections in chi,

where diagonal streets hit a 4 way intersection.
i've seen it proposed to have an all stop in each light cycle, timed to let pedestrians cross, and controlled by them. i dont think anyone took it srsly, but it makes sense to me.