The City announced today that the Walnut Street Repaving & Complete Streets Safety Project construction will begin on Tuesday, September 12, 2023. The project is part of scheduled Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) repaving.

The repaving schedule is as follows:

  • From Tuesday, September 12, through Friday, September 15, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., there will be a lane closed on Walnut Street between 63rd Street (Cobbs Creek Parkway) and 33rd Street to prepare for milling. 
  • Milling work will take place during overnight hours. 
  • Paving is set to begin on or around Tuesday, September 26. 
  • Travel lanes will be open during the majority of construction. There will be periodic nighttime closures. Follow signs, detours, and parking notices. 

On Walnut Street from 33rd Street to 63rd Street/Cobbs Creek Parkway, PennDOT contractor construction crews will: 

  • Mill the roadway from curb to curb, and repave with fresh asphalt to create a smooth asphalt surface. 
  • Paint fresh crosswalks and roadway markings in an updated layout. 
  • Shorten pedestrian crossing distance for people walking across Walnut Street.  
  • Remove left-turn vehicle lanes at most intersections where there are lower turn volumes. 
  • Upgrade the existing painted bike lane to a parking-separated bike lane from 33rd Street to 63rd Street/Cobbs Creek Parkway.
  • The bike lane will expand the bike network’s connectivity between West Philadelphia and Center City. The parking-separated bike lane will also serve as a pair to the east-bound Chestnut Street separated bike lane from 63rd Street/Cobbs Creek Parkway to 22nd Street.

The new roadway layout will provide traffic calming, a vital safety upgrade on this section of roadway. West Walnut Street is on the City’s High Injury Network, the 12 percent of city streets that account for 80 percent of serious and fatal traffic crashes.

Walnut Street between 33rd Street and 63rd Streets (Cobbs Creek Parkway) had 331 crashes from 2018-2022, according to PennDOT. In these crashes, there were 214 people injured, 15 people seriously injured, and three people killed. Nearly 45% of those total crashes were due to aggressive driving

Parking-separated bike lanes enhance traffic safety for all users of the road. A similar project on Chestnut Street built in 2017 between 45th and 34th Streets, significantly reduced crashes. After the new layout with the parking separated bike lane was installed on Chestnut Street, there was a 43% decrease in drivers traveling above the speed limit and a 40% decrease in injuries.

The Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, & Sustainability coordinated closely with City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s office on this project, as well as State Representative and Speaker of the House Joanna E. McClinton and State Representative Rick Krajewski. 

Community groups played a major role in the project, including Cobbs Creek Neighbors, Garden Court Community Association, Walnut Hill Community Association, and West Philadelphia United Neighbors.

Residents can view the PennDOT District 6 news and traffic alerts page for additional information.

View the Walnut Street Construction Notice and other community materials related to the Chestnut and Walnut Repaving project.