New roadway layout will provide traffic calming to reduce the speed of people driving; a major factor in traffic crashes
The City announced today that construction activities for the Lehigh Avenue Repaving & Safety Project will begin tomorrow, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, as part of scheduled Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) repaving.
Lehigh Avenue will be repaved from Ridge Avenue to Richmond Street. Between Kensington Avenue and Aramingo Avenue, the PennDOT repaving project will:
- Upgrade the existing bike lanes to a new parking-separated bike lane configuration to provide a separate space for people biking
- Narrow vehicle lanes to calm traffic and reduce the speed of people driving
- Shorten pedestrian crossing distance for people walking across Lehigh Avenue
- Create a high-quality bike connection through the River Wards (Kensington and Port Richmond)
“As one of the streets on the Vision Zero High Injury Network, I am proud to see construction along Lehigh Avenue begin. Implementing traffic safety improvements along Lehigh Avenue will greatly improve safety for people who walk, take transit, bike, and drive on the road,” said Mike Carroll, Deputy Managing Director for OTIS. “We remain committed to making critical investments in traffic safety improvements throughout Philadelphia to ensure everyone feels safe traveling throughout our city.”
The new roadway layout will provide traffic calming, a necessary safety upgrade on this section of roadway. Listed on the City’s High Injury Network, Lehigh Avenue is a part of the 12 percent of city streets that account for 80 percent of serious and fatal traffic crashes in Philadelphia.
From 2016 to 2020, Lehigh Avenue between Kensington Avenue and Aramingo Avenue had a crash rate of 28 crashes per mile per year. These crashes included injuries to 127 people, including one fatal crash (PennDOT Crash Data, 2016 to 2020).
The repaving schedule will begin Wednesday, July 20 through Friday, July 22, from 7:00 p.m to 5:00 a.m. Lane closures between these times are scheduled on Lehigh Avenue between Ridge Avenue and Richmond Street for milling operations
For more information, see the construction notice on the Lehigh Avenue Repaving Project page. Stay tuned to related news and traffic alerts on the PennDOT District 6 page