The Hub 9/20/19: Clean Air Council’s Weekly Round-Up of Transportation News
“The Hub” is a weekly round-up of transportation related news in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Check back weekly to keep up to date on the issues Clean Air Council’s transportation staff finds important.
PlanPhilly: First reveal: See the 7-foot tall mural designs SEPTA chose for 5th Street station – The Market-Frankford Line’s 5th Street/Independence Hall Station will soon undergo an artistic makeover. Tom Judd, a celebrated artist from the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, has been commissioned to fill 400 sq ft of station wall with art befitting of the birthplace of our nation.
The Inquirer: When it comes to adapting street space for pedestrians, Philly needs a better road map – Car-free urban public space is in short supply in American cities, where a clear demarcation frequently separates parkland from streetscape. It doesn’t have to be that way, though, as a few sites in Philadelphia have begun to show
Billy Penn: Homeowners are on the hook to fix Philly’s ‘disintegrating’ sidewalks – Philadelphian homeowners are responsible for repairs to the sidewalk in front of their home. For people who use strollers or mobility devices, traversing a crumbling sidewalk can be difficult or impossible. The city has implemented a loan program to ease the cost burden of sidewalk repair, however the city lacks a system to track complaints of sidewalks in disrepair.
HIdden City Philadelphia: Still Chugging Along: Exploring Philadelphia’s other Broad Street Station – At Broad Street and Lehigh Avenue sits the stately former North Broad Station. North Broad Station was built by the Reading Railroad and opened in 1929, less than a month before the country plunged into the Great Depression. Many of the planned lines that would have served the station never came to be. Passenger service to the station ceased in 1958. The neo-classical gem still stands, and is currently used as housing for convicts reentering society.
NextCity: New York Rolls Out $51 Billion Transit Improvement Plan – The governor of New York has announced an ambitious overhaul of the state’s aging transit infrastructure. $51 billion will be spent over the next 5 years to clear the maintenance backlog of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, modernize safety equipment, and extend select lines.
City Lab: In the City That Ride-Hailing Forgot, Change Is Coming – Vancouver, Canada, is set to become one of the last major North American cities to allow Uber and Lyft to operate. City officials say that being a late adopter has the advantage of learning from the effects of ride-hailing on other cities. Mandatory data sharing, fees, and strict licensing requirements for drivers are among the policies in place as Uber and Lyft enter the Vancouver market.
Image Source: Billy Penn
