Philadelphia Is Adding Its First Ever Parking-Protecting Bike Lane
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Work begins Monday to build Philadelphia's first parking-protected bike lane.
The city is reconfiguring Chestnut Street between 45th and 34th, adding a new bike lane that will be separated from the two remaining traffic lanes. Currently Chestnut has three traffic lanes with parking lanes on either side.
Under the new configuration, the northernmost lane will be a bike lane protected by plastic posts, then a buffer, a parking lane, two traffic lanes and another parking lane.
Kelley Yemen, the city's Director of Complete Streets, says it's part of a comprehensive effort to make the street safer.
"We knew we had a crash problem, speeding problems, we had a lot of people using bikes on the street with no bike facility," Yemen said.
She says the city is considering protected bike lanes on other roads including South and Lombard Streets.
The Chestnut Street work is expected to take three weeks to complete.
