On October 17, the City of Philadelphia co-hosted a public open house at Jefferson University with Washington Square West and Society Hill Civic Associations to present plans and gather feedback on the Spruce and Pine Streets Bike Lane Safety Upgrades project. Due to strong turnout, the project team extended the open house past the original end time to ensure everyone in line could attend and participate. In total, there were 371 sign-ins and 368 completed exit surveys.
City staff presented meeting boards with project information and staff to explain the proposed policy and infrastructure changes- view here. In addition, there were block-by-block loading zone plans on display for comment and staff collected direct handwritten feedback on the plans – view here.
One of the key policy recommendations is to convert all curbside regulation in the bike lane from No Parking to No Stopping Anytime. On November 13, Mayor Parker signed Bill No. 240657 – also known as the ‘Get Out the Bike Lane’ legislation – into law, which makes all curbside bike lanes ‘No Stopping Anytime’ areas. The regulations on Spruce and Pine Streets – or any other location where existing signage directly conflicts with the new regulation – will remain ‘No Parking’ until new signs go up in Spring 2025.
Next Steps
The City will continue to finalize the analysis from the open house exit surveys and loading zone comments. This week, the City will send a letter to all residents on the Spruce and Pine Streets corridor with a link to an online loading zone comment tool. This will give residents the opportunity to raise any concerns that directly affect their block.
Following this process, the City will finalize a loading zone plan for the corridor. These plans will be presented to a small group of representatives from local registered community organizations (RCO) and bicycle advocates for further conversation and engagement. The goal is to roll out the implementation of new loading zones and ‘No Stopping Anytime’ signage concurrently in Spring 2025.
The City will continue to work toward separated bike lanes on Spruce and Pine streets in 2025.
