The Grays Ferry Gateway Project has been working with support of SOSNA and the City to reimagine the Triangles corridor from South to Bainbridge along 23rd and Grays Ferry Ave. As part of this project, we asked the City to commission a traffic study to analyze what the change in traffic patterns may do in the area, as it relates to traffic counts and vehicle delay. Safety is the most important factor - always - but we don’t want a reconfiguration of intersections and reversal of 24th street to have unanticipated impacts. Thanks to Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson’s support, the City recently completed a traffic study that analyzed the impact of reversing 24th street between Bainbridge and Lombard. As part of our plan in the area, this will allow us to simplify intersections, close slip lanes, and make the area safer for all road users. In addition, it would alleviate a common bottleneck at 22nd and Bainbridge. SOSNA has held a number of community meetings where the scheme has been presented for feedback. In these meetings, some neighbors have been concerned that the 24th Street reversal may lead to more traffic on 24th Street and longer waits at 24th and Lombard.
We recently received an update from the City on the traffic study results. The conclusion from the report is below:
Reversing the direction of 24th Street from one-way southbound to one-way northbound between Lombard Street and Bainbridge Street appears to have minimal impact to operations in the study area. Per results of the analysis, this modification appears viable and will allow for simplification of the 24th Street, Grays Ferry Avenue, 23rd Street & Bainbridge Street intersections.
This is great news - the reversal of 24th street and simplification of the intersections will have minimal impact and appears viable. The analysis also looked into how much vehicles will be delayed at each intersection. This is a common analysis in traffic studies, however, we think safety is paramount even if it increases vehicle delays. Nevertheless, this street reversal would reduce vehicle delays at the intersection of 24th and Lombard. Further details on the vehicle delay are below:
24th St & Lombard St Signal
2022 current conditions: 18.5 vehicle delay
2042 no build (if things stay the same): 18.7 vehicle delay
2044 24th street reversal: 14.6 vehicle delay
The analysis also estimates traffic counts and traffic turning counts. At 24th and Lombard, only 10 vehicles per hour are estimated to turn left onto Lombard from 24th. More vehicles will turn right at 24th and South than continue northbound to Lombard Street. Traffic counts are the same on the 2400 block of Lombard and reduced on the 2200-2300 blocks of Lombard.
We’re excited that these results show viability for the project with minimal impact - even reducing traffic volumes on 24th street between Lombard and South. If you have further questions, please reach out to SOSNA at hello@sosnaphilly.org For additional information, see: SOSNA’S Gateway Project homepage.