East Montgomery Times

Philadelphia County issued the following announcement on May 20.

The Fairhill Neighborhood Slow Zone is now complete, marking it as the first completed slow zone in Philadelphia.

Launched in 2018, the Neighborhood Slow Zone Program supports the City’s Vision Zero goal to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Responding to Philadelphia residents’ common concerns about speeding on their neighborhood streets, the program expands residents’ traffic calming options from single-block solutions to entire zones of residential streets. 

Community Design Process

In 2019, the HACE Community Development Council (CDC) applied to the Slow Zone Program and was selected based on scoring criteria described in the Neighborhood Slow Zone Program Score Report evaluating crash history, community spaces (like schools or churches), and vulnerable populations living in the area. The City then worked hand-in-hand with the Fairhill neighbors to design their Slow Zone through co-design meetings where community members selected safety improvements from a toolkit and determined how to spend the project budget.

Safety improvements in the Fairhill Slow Zone were implemented on the blocks between N. Second and Fifth Streets and Allegheny and Glenwood Avenues. 

Improvements included:

• Speed cushions at over 20 locations 
• Intersection improvements consisting of delineated corner clearances and turn wedges 
• Painted curb extensions at two locations on Glenwood Avenue 
• Traffic Calming through updated pavement markings on N. 3rd St.
• New instructional street signs 
• New and refreshed pavement markings 
• A reduced 20 MPH speed limit

Next Steps

The City looks forward to expanding the Neighborhood Slow Zone program and bringing more traffic calming and slow zones across Philadelphia.

• Construction at the Willard Elementary Slow Zone will be complete this summer with safety improvements between Somerset and Clearfield streets and Kensington and Frankford avenues. 
• The City is also working with neighbors and the School District of Philadelphia on improvements at the Cramp Elementary Slow Zone, which will be installed next year. 
• The community design process for West Passyunk neighborhood and the Tenth Memorial Way neighborhood are also underway with construction anticipated in 2024.   

Original source can be found here.