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Thu
Oct 6
2011

Race Street Connector is (Sort of) Finished!

In honor of tonight’s grand opening ceremony for the Race Street Connector, we figured we’d head over and see what progress has been made at making the hundred yard walk under I-95 feel less like a hundred yard walk under I-95. For those who don’t know what we’re talking about, the Race Street Connector is the first step in a long-term project to improve access to the Delaware river, and utilizes landscaping, greenery, improved signage, widened sidewalks, and lights projected on a metal screen to improve the walkability and safety of the stretch of Race St. between Front St. and Delaware Ave. The purpose of this connection is to make it easier for folks to get to our pricey but pretty new public space, the Race Street Pier.

View from Front St

Getting closer

The river appears to be up ahead, according to the sign

Movin' along. It barely feels scary here!

The city is back the way we came. Good to know.

Ah, finally through

Race Street Pier!

Looking back at the connector

In general, this is a nice first effort by the DRWC and the Streets Department. They’ve successfully made an undesirable stretch of sidewalk much more pedestrian friendly, and we suspect that this improvement will lead to more people braving the walk under the highway to explore the new park. One thing that did catch our attention was the apparent incompleteness of the project. Sure, the southern side of Race St. is dramatically improved, but what about the north side of the street?

Not so nice

Who knew you could park there?

This problem will be resolved with Phase Two of the Race Street Connector project, which will improve the currently unchanged and still extremely unattractive north side of Race St. Similar streetscape improvements will be implemented, with new sidewalks, new landscaping, and a metal screen added to complement the one on the southern side. We’re a little concerned that until the second phase is completed, the connector will continue to feel unfinished.

Then again, maybe we just need to check it out at night. The lighting is supposed to be very impressive.

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COMMENTS
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Posted in Old City | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments
  • Guest

    I think it looks nice but I find two things disappointing about it:

    1) The crossing of Columbus Blvd. still is pretty horrible.  Not sure what I really think they should do about it, though.
    2) I think the bike lane could have been made nice.  Again, I don’t know how.

    Okay, stupid complaints or at least complaints without good solutions.  It looks nicer and I hope it and the Fringe Building an future Pier 19 development make it busier.

  • Jen Oliver

    Can traffic now go from Front to Race this way?

  • http://twitter.com/McJenna Jenna McBride

    This is a really great start…I like it when they care about safety. Hip hip.

  • vegfoodie

    my only gripe is that the CITY and RIVER signs kind of take up a lot of the sidewalk, especially near the “C.” i walked down there yesterday and i forsee a lot of bottlenecking/people walking in the bike lane at that point.

    and yes, crossing over Columbus is still daunting. it’d be nice if they put a couple of those bollards on the ped island, to at least give a bit more protection (or the illusion thereof) from cars.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for mentioning the bollards.
    They are both functional and have a cool name.

  • Chris

    bollards, heh heh

  • Route_82

    Ok, what the hell?  They were supposed to repave it!  They just painted new lines on the crappy pavement.

  • qguy

    I love how they used faux (I’m assuming) maritime mooring bollards, not simply short poles. This is what a bollard originally was. Ships’ mooring lines (also called hawsers) are secured to them. Great way to pull the riverfront theme up Race St.

    I too was wondering about the sidewalk width. I though perhaps it was just me or the forced perspective of the photograph, but that sidewalk at the CITY graphic is awfully narrow. This is supposed to be the way to draw people from the street grid toward the pier. Shouldn’t groups of people be able to walk along that sidewalk in both directions at the same time without lining up in single file?

  • http://nakedphilly.com/old-city/this-weekend-morgans-pier-arrives/ This Weekend: Morgan’s Pier Arrives | NakedPhilly

    [...] new home, coming soon, will include performance space, as well as a bar and restaurant. And the Race Street Connector makes it all more accessible from Old [...]

  • Mike

    Not sure why they ended up making the sidewalk so tight at that point.  I still have never walked under 95 on Race Street when any one else was around. It is and always will remain a desolate spot. Also the race street pier for most people is a one time visit. There is really nothing to do there. .

  • Guest

     Re: One-time visit.  As someone who doesn’t live near there I somewhat agree.  I’ve been 5 times since it opened when I wanted to see the river because it’s the best place near Center City to look up or down stream.  I think it’s nice for people who live in old city or on the riverfront as a neighborhood park for sitting and reading.  I hope some of the residential development by the bridge, the Philly Fringe building, and making the trail better will bring more people by but whenever I pass it biking I always notice a decent number of people there.  Never full but decently used.

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