February 03, 2024
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
PennDOT awarded $12 million in funding for traffic safety projects in Philadelphia. Most of the money will go towards improvement to Roosevelt Boulevard, pictured above, for work like installing curb extensions and upgrades to traffic signals.
PennDOT is allotting $19.3 million in funding for traffic safety projects in Philadelphia with more than half of that sum to be spent on improvements to Roosevelt Boulevard.
In total, projects related to Roosevelt Boulevard through Northeast Philly are receiving $12 million, PennDOT said Thursday. The grants awarded by the state are funded by revenue collected through fines issued to drivers caught speeding by the automated speed-monitoring cameras in Philadelphia.
"There's no question that these projects will improve safety in the City of Philadelphia," PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll said about all seven projects receiving money. "Everyone — no matter who they are, no matter where they live, no matter how they travel — deserves to get where they're going safely."
Of the funding directed to Roosevelt Boulevard projects, $10 million will be spent on work like installing curb extensions to shorten crossing distances for pedestrians; realigning crosswalks, traffic lanes and vehicular turning lanes; upgrades to traffic signals and other improvements. It will also include green water infrastructure projects, like permeable pavement and stormwater management systems that mimics the natural environment.
Another $2 million is earmarked for planning and designing future improvements to the boulevard, which has the reputation as one of the most dangerous roads in the region.
The overall plan for improvements to the boulevard, called Roosevelt Boulevard Route for Change, includes short-term goals slated to be completed by 2025 and other work that will be finished as far out as 2040. In 2021, the state grants totaled $12.1 million for Route for Change.
Earlier this week, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed legislation that made the speed-camera program in Philadelphia permanent and allows it to be expanded. There already are cameras at eight locations in Philadelphia, including at 700 W. Roosevelt Blvd. and 5000 E. Roosevelt Blvd. The cameras are overseen locally by the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
Through the years, Roosevelt Boulevard consistently has been listed among the most dangerous roads in the region and even the U.S. The first speed-monitoring cameras were installed on the Roosevelt Boulevard in June 2020. Prior to that, in December 2019, PennDOT said 55% of crashes on the roadway were attributed to speeding and aggressive driving. Within the first seven months of the camera program, crashes declined by 36% and traffic deaths dropped by 50%.
From 2016 through last year, crashes on the boulevard killed at least 75 people, and 41% of them were pedestrians. The Roosevelt Boulevard is also listed in Vision Zero's High Injury Network, the 12% of Philadelphia streets where 80% of all serious traffic incidents take place.
Other Philadelphia projects that received PennDOT grants include $3 million to slow vehicular traffic traffic in neighborhoods by installing speed humps, narrower lanes and other measures; $1 million for intersection improvements that slow traffic, improve driver visibility and reduce pedestrian crossing time; and $1.8 million for improvements along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
