City officials and members of the Vision Zero Task Force joined Mayor Jim Kenney today to announce the City’s Vision Zero Action Plan 2025 and Capital Plan. In advance of Sunday’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, the City renewed its commitment to ending traffic fatalities by 2030. 

Vision Zero in 2020 

Traffic fatalities in Philadelphia reached their highest monthly point in the four years since Philadelphia committed to ending traffic fatalities during July 2020. Although it is too soon to draw definite conclusions or determine trends, this alarming spike in traffic deaths comes at a time when there are fewer cars on the road due to pandemic response, which has encouraged speeding and aggressive driving. 

Together with all of the challenges Philadelphians have faced this year, these tragic deaths make our Vision Zero efforts more important than ever.  

While we saw a slight decrease in traffic deaths from 2018 to 2019, this dramatic increase in 2020 is concerning. And although we know we cannot look at any one year of data in isolation – our trend toward zero needs to shift downward in order to reach our goal of zero by 2030. 

This year we have also seen increased numbers of Philadelphians walking and biking to social distance and get outside, meanwhile our city’s frontline workers need safe options for commuting. It is more urgent than ever to to ensure all Philadelphians can move around safely.  

We knew zero by 2030 was ambitious – and we recommit to that goal, because we know our city and our families deserve safer streets.  

Moving Forward – A Safe Systems Approach  

This Action Plan embraces a framework of safe speeds, safe streets, safe people, safe vehicles, and safety data. 

The Vision Zero Action Plan 2025 builds on Philadelphia’s progress over the last three years (see below). The Plan advances the next phase of work using a safe systems framework. This approach to transportation safety looks beyond the immediate conditions of a crash and focuses across connected systems to prevent fatal crashes. 

People are not perfect and make mistakes, and when they do, our safety systems should be in place to prevent traffic-related deaths.  

Reducing vehicle speeds is a safe systems priority action for Vision Zero in Philadelphia because speed is the number one predictor of survival in the case of a crash. In addition, a safe system promotes transit, walking, or biking because these are the safest and healthiest options for Philadelphians to get around. In fact, taking transit is ten times safer than driving by car. 

Among the actions set in the 2025 Action plan are: 

• Designing residential streets for 20 mph target speeds using traffic-calming measures. 
• Expanding automated speed enforcement program to within ¼ mile of all schools and all High Injury Network streets, upon passage of State enabling legislation. 
• Continuing the Neighborhood Slow Zones program by launching a new round of applications in 2021. 
• Installing 40 miles of protected bicycle lanes on the High Quality Bike Network. 
• Expanding Safe Routes Philly program to 25% of Philadelphia schools by 2025 prioritizing schools near locations with high rates of crashes involving youth. 
• Increasing the City’s bikeshare system, Indego, to 350 total stations and expanding to new neighborhoods while ensuring accessibility and affordability for low-income riders. 
• Using the High Injury Network and the latest crash data analysis to prioritize safety interventions on the most dangerous streets. 

Capital Plan – 10 Priority Corridors & 10 Priority Intersections for Safety 

To accelerate Philadelphia’s progress towards Vision Zero, the City has identified 10 priority corridors and 10 priority intersections for safety improvements. For each location, this Capital Plan provides a crash analysis, a list of potential engineering solutions, and a high level cost estimate to build the improvements.   

These corridors and intersections have been selected because they are some of the most dangerous places on the High Injury Network and because projects here would meet other City goals including equity, transit, or bike network priority, economic development, and youth safety. 

Over the next five years, the City will endeavor to fund, design, and build safety improvements at these priority locations. View the Capital Plan.  

Transformative Policies – four legislative needs that will save lives 

Getting to zero will require political will and public support for ambitious and transformative policies.  

These transformative policies for Vision Zero 2025 for City and State partners require legislative authority, are evidence-based to reduce severe and fatal injuries, and are high-impact initiatives that will significantly move Philadelphia towards its Vision Zero goal.  

• Passing the Curb Bill to allow safe street design  
• Adopting Vision Zero ordinance 
• Expanding automated speed enforcement 
• Setting municipal speed limit  

To learn more about Vision Zero transformative policies refer to the Vision Zero Action Plan 2025.  

Marking Progress 

The Three-Year Action Plan marks the culmination of the first phase of Vision Zero work in Philadelphia, which will serve as the foundation for ongoing efforts. In our first three years, Vision Zero has laid the foundation for safe streets.  

Highlights from the first three years include:   

• Mayor Kenney announcing the Vision Zero for Youth pilot project.  
• Installing speed cameras at eight locations along Roosevelt Boulevard. 
• Completing 58 miles of transformative safety improvements in locations such as Chestnut Street, Market Street, 11th Street, JFK Boulevard and Logan Square. 
• Delivering 10 miles of new protected bike lanes on 22nd Street, 11th Street, Market Street, and JFK.
• Breaking ground on the two-mile corridor of American Street between Girard and Indiana Avenues in the Northern Liberties and Fairhill neighborhoods. 
• Installing 119 speed cushions, 121 pedestrian head start signals, and 2 raised crosswalks.  
• Planning 31 miles of upcoming projects on the High Injury Network in the next two years including corridors like Washington Avenue and intersections like Broad, Germantown, and Erie. 
• Launching the Neighborhood Slow Zone program with three neighborhood slow zones in progress. 
• Upgrading City fleet vehicles with side guards, 360-degree cameras, and cross over mirrors. 
• Reaching over 250,000 people through social media, and placing 1,000 ads on radio and outdoor media campaigns.  

The Vision Zero Action Plan 2025 is an important step towards renewing our commitment to reaching our goal of zero road deaths by 2030.  

With the support of each and every Philadelphian, we can save lives and make our city’s streets safer. To learn more and get involved visit VisionZeroPHL.com.