Project Goals      

The Chinatown Stitch aims to meet longstanding community desires. 

In 2023, the City asked the community what parts of the project are most important. The Community chose four goals. These goals will guide the project design: 

  • Create an inviting public green space with trees and plants  
  • Create a safe street design that extends the Chinatown neighborhood feel  
  • Prioritize the needs of the elderly, young, and those with disabilities  
  • Include public buildings and businesses that serve community needs 

Project Background

Chinatown is in the heart of Philadelphia. It has narrow, dense streets. It has a mix of houses and businesses. Chinatown also has many cultural and social organizations. These include community centers, schools, and religious organizations.  

Vine Street used to be a regular sized road, like Race Street and Arch Street. In the 1950s, the City widened it to make it easier for people driving cars. This required that many buildings be torn down and the people who lived or worked in those buildings had to leave. It also made it hard for people to cross Vine Street if they weren’t in cars. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the City and State built the I-676 Expressway. The construction removed many homes and businesses and displaced more people. Today, more than 100,000 motorists use the Expressway each day. It serves as a major economic corridor. But the Expressway continues to be the source of issues for those who live and work around it. The issues include traffic accidents, unsafe sidewalks, traffic, air pollution, and noise. 

The City recognizes the impact the Expressway has had on surrounding communities. The Chinatown Stitch aims to address some of the harm caused by it. 

What’s Included?

The Chinatown Stitch focuses on the area from Broad Street to 8th Street and Callowhill to Race Street. The project will include:  

  • Building a 1.5 block highway cap over the Expressway. The cap will be between 10th and 12th streets and have public and green space. Phase 2, currently unfunded, would extend the cap to 2.5 total blocks.  
  • Updating Vine Street’s local lanes to make it safer for everyone. 
  • Exploring a pedestrian bridge at 9th Street. 
  • Designing for a future Rail Park connection. 
  • Strengthening the bridges on 10th and 11th Street. Improving sidewalks and ramps. 
  • Job training programs to help residents get jobs when construction starts. 

Highway Cap? 

A Highway Cap is a structure built over a sunken highway that resembles a bridge. The highway is below and there is a platform on top. Highway caps can have landscaping or other structures built on top.  

Highway caps can help: 

  • Reconnect Communities. Bridge communities separated by highways 
  • Create Green Space. Build public areas and parks 
  • Make Streets Safer. Improve how pedestrians and cyclists can travel through the area 
  • Support Local Businesses. Encourage more customers and protect current businesses and residents from possible displacement. 
For more information, please visit the Chinatown Stitch project page.