Center City bike lane safety project postponed

A massive repaving project that’s meant to increase the safety of bikers in Center City has been postponed until next year.

The project, which will run along Spruce and Pine streets from Front to 22nd, will be worked on in the spring, not the fall like originally planned, Christopher Puchalsky, policy director in the city’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS) told PlanPhilly this week. He added that the decision to push the project back comes from a desire not to rush it, but “to do it right.”

The project will see deteriorated portions of Spruce and Pine repaved, and a bike lane moved from the right to the left of the one-way streets, allowing bikers to ride alongside the driver’s side of the car for better and safer visibility. PlanPhilly writes that the lanes will also be painted green and will have delineator posts near intersections.

The project was announced earlier this year, several months after 24-year-old Emily Fredricks was hit and killed by a trash truck while biking at the intersection of 11th and Spruce streets in late 2017. Just a month later, 24-year-old Becca Refford was hit and seriously injured in a crash on 13th and Pine.

Following the crashes, and subsequent outcry from the public, OTIS, put together the Spruce and Pine repaving project, citing a need for increased safety of bikers and pedestrians along the one way streets in Center City.

• Volunteers count vehicles in the bike lanes as upgrade work on Pine and Spruce delayed [PlanPhilly]
• Repaving project planned along Spruce and Pine [Curbed Philly]