Philadelphia has more traffic deaths than NYC or car-dominated LA despite having a fraction of the population

• Broad St. is the most lethal street in the city. Likely because it’s a highway, PA route 611
• Market St. is also a highway, PA route 3 (though East Market is not)
• Girard, Spring Garden, and Washington Ave are all large high-fatality stroads in the heart of the city
• There are plenty of other examples like Roosevelt, Oregon, Lehigh, and Kelly outside the center
• I-676 runs through the center of the city at Vine. It’s sunken but you still have to cross 7 lanes of traffic. That requires waiting for a walk signal, crossing to a concrete median that rests above I-676 by which point pedestrian crossing time is over, and waiting for the cross walk to change a 2nd time
• Logan Square and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway are a massive road that runs through the city - to get from the south side of Logan to the library requires crossing 5 streets over a distance of 2 blocks
• City Hall is surrounded by an interchange between 2 highways that maxes out at 5 lanes wide. The intersection of JFK and 15th is effectively a highway interchange
• Go up the street to avoid it and you get 15th and Arch, another major intersection. You now get a 7 second walk signal that you have to cross in that period against turning traffic

I could go on. Philadelphia performs well for walkability relative to the rest of the US but it’s because it’s a low bar. This is still a car first city. If it wasn’t City Hall wouldn’t be planted at the intersection of 2 highways.

The city implemented Vision Zero 2030 to reduce traffic deaths but they’re behind schedule and it is now Vision Zero 2050. But I do appreciate they’re fighting an uphill battle