$22.1M Going To 8 Traffic Safety Projects In Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — Eight traffic safety projects in Philadelphia are getting boosts in funding through the Automated Speed Enforcement program, Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday.

The eight projects will be funded by $22.1 million in new grant funding through the program.

"The ASE program invests in traffic safety both by discouraging speeding through enforcement fines and using those fines to implement solutions to improve safety," Wolf said. "These improvements complement the many road, bridge, and multimodal projects happening in Pennsylvania."

The approved projects are as follows:

• $6 million for designing intersection modifications identified as 2025 improvements in the Roosevelt Boulevard Route for Change program in the City of Philadelphia, including curb extensions to shorten pedestrian crossing distances, realigned crosswalks, realigned lane configurations and turn lanes, upgrades to traffic signals and timing, changes to traffic movements, and new or upgraded transit shelters and stations;
• $4 million for safety improvements on Cottman Avenue in the City of Philadelphia between Roosevelt Boulevard and Castor Avenue;
• $3 million for safety improvements on Castor Avenue which will implement a range of complete streets tools to a 2.3 mile segment of minor arterial roadway in Northeast Philadelphia;
• $2 million for implementing Business Access and Transit lanes (right turn and bus lanes) through pavement markings and signs along Roosevelt Boulevard in the City of Philadelphia;
• $2 million to develop an alternatives analysis to further the Roosevelt Boulevard Route for Change report concepts in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act;
• $1.5 million for the Roosevelt Boulevard Parallel Corridor ITS and Emergency Preemption Program, which includes design and construction of emergency preemption along corridors as well as make-ready signal upgrades needed for the introduction of red-light running cameras by Philadelphia Parking Authority at select intersections on Roosevelt Boulevard corridors in the City of Philadelphia;
• $1 million for delivering safer, more accessible, and more comfortable bus stops to transit riders along Roosevelt Boulevard in the City of Philadelphia as identified in the Roosevelt Boulevard Route for Change report;
• $500,000 for improvements to Spring Garden Street between Columbus Boulevard and 23rdStreet in the City of Philadelphia, including both streetscape and cartway improvements at 22 intersections; and
• $2.1 million to provide technical assistance for the Pennsylvania Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement program statewide.

Act 86 of 2018 authorized Pennsylvania’s ASE pilot program on Roosevelt Boulevard/U.S. Route 1 in Philadelphia between Ninth Street and the Bucks County line.

Under this program, the Philadelphia Parking Authority installed automated speed enforcement at eight locations where data shows speeding has been an issue.

PennDOT administers a Transportation Enhancement Grants program using the fines from the ASE pilot program.

Grant applications in Philadelphia were prioritized in accordance with Act 86.

Pennsylvania’s Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement program was also authorized under Act 86 of 2018. This is the first year for funding from the ASE program.