How to Redesign SS Bridge

In an impassioned, 11th-hour effort aimed at convincing city officials to reconsider a harsh, automobile-oriented design for the new South Street Bridge, about 75 residents, planners and traffic engineers spent three hours on Saturday morning pouring over engineering drawings and satellite images. Like the recent brainstorming efforts for the Delaware Waterfront and the Kimmel Center, the design charrette helped clarify the community's values and identify some creative strategies for making the project better.
The sad part, of course, is that residents were acting in desperation. They were forced to hold the charrette now, just one month before the city Streets Department plans to bid the $54 million bridge project, because the Street Administration left the design of the city's the most important new bridge entirely in the hands of traffic engineers, without any thought about the role it plays as a neighborhood connector and symbolic urban gateway. Not surprisingly, the engineers came up with an interstate-style span that that will increase the psychological divide between Center City and the University of Pennsylvania area. Now they are claiming it's too late to change the design because the bridge is exfoliating concrete at a rapid rate and could become dangerous.

So, there isn't much time to reconfigure this bridge from an interstate speedway to a neighborhood gateway. But as organizer and planner Jim Campbell told the group, "If we do nothing now, nothing is going to be done. We can influence what choices are made." The charrette was a good first step, but Campbell and others conceded that the only hope for getting a better bridge now lies with Philadelphia's elected officials: Mayor Nutter, Council President Anna Verna, Sen. Vincent Fumo and Rep. Babette Josephs (who attended the Thursday night session). Ward Leader Marcia Wilkof urged participants to write letters encouraging them to show the kind of leadership that John Street failed to display. No doubt she's right, but I'm always amazed that Philadelphia officials still need to be nudged and cajoled into taking an interest in a major civic construction project as important as the South Street Bridge. As one of the most photographed perches in the entire city, this bridge will shape Philadelphia's public image for generations.

It was heartening that one of the Streets Department's most progressive engineers, Dave Perri, participated in Saturday's discussion, and was willing to offer both practical advice and a sympathetic ear. While he cautioned that "there isn't time to do a complete redesign" because of the bridge's poor condition, he said it is still possible to make some improvements to slow down traffic and increase the comfort zone for pedestrians and bicyclists on the new bridge.
Here are some of the most interesting ideas I heard from the break-out groups:
-Use crash barriers to separate the car lanes from bike lanes. That means engineers won't have to put an ugly crash-rated fence along the bridge's outside edge and can instead use a handsome decorative railing.
-Incorporate pedestrian lights into protective bollards that double as crash barriers.
-Add a traffic light on the east side of the bridge, where it intersects with the ramp from the Schuylkill River Park. That will slow traffic and make it easier for walkers and bikers to get to and from the park safely. It's almost hard to believe that, in the current design, you'll exit the park ramp directly into the whizzing bridge traffic.
-Eliminate the tin can look-outs and use the savings for sidewalk improve-ments. Several people said the design (see post below) looks like garage elevators.
-Reconsider the plan to demolish the beautiful arches leading the bridge on the east side. The city will not only save money and preserve a historic structure. Keeping the stone arches will retain the odd curve that forces motorists to slow down as they approach the bridge.
-Extend construction from 18 months to 24 months and eliminate excessive overtime costs. Use savings for pedestrian improvements.
-Write letters to politicians to let them know that the city residents value Schuyllkill river crossings that feel like a continuation of the city's streets - not a highway interloper.