The funding will reduce conflicts between pedestrians and motor vehicles near Adams and Summerdale avenues.
HARRISBURG, PA, February 9, 2018 – State Sen. Christine Tartaglione has secured a $1.1 million Pennsylvania transportation grant to fund pedestrian safety improvements where Adams and Summerdale avenues intersect with Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia.
The $1,113,612 PennDOT Multimodal Transportation Fund grant was among 45 highway, bridge, bike/pedestrian and ports/waterways projects selected by the state agency in 22 Pennsylvania counties. The grants were chosen from among 222 applications and total $41.5 million in statewide investment.
“Roosevelt Boulevard has long held a terrible reputation as one of the nation’s most dangerous roads for pedestrians and motorists. And that reputation is well-deserved,” Senator Tartaglione said. “We must do all we can to protect pedestrians as they cross this major highway.”
Designed and constructed just over a century ago, Roosevelt Boulevard is 300 feet wide and carries U.S. Route 1 from Ninth Street in Philadelphia’s Hunting Park neighborhood to the Philadelphia-Bucks County border in the Far Northeast. At the Adams/Summerdale intersection, the highway serves about 78,000 cars, trucks and busses a day while bisecting a dense residential neighborhood featuring homes, retail stores, parks, a hospital, a school, a playground and a cemetery. Summerdale Avenue intersects with the Boulevard from the northeast, while Adams Avenue intersects with the Boulevard from the southeast.
In its grant application, the City of Philadelphia’s Streets Department cited its plan to “improve the intersection geometry in the southwest corner of Adams/Summerdale avenues and Roosevelt Boulevard in order to mitigate the conflict point between pedestrians and vehicles.” Last November, Senator Tartaglione secured a $500,000 Commonwealth Financing Authority grant for the Streets Department in support of the same roadway safety initiative.
In awarding Multimodal Transportation Fund grants, PennDOT considered safety benefits, regional economic conditions, technical and financial feasibility, job creation, energy efficiency and operational sustainability.
The Multimodal Transportation Fund was created by the Pennsylvania legislature in Act 89 of 2013, Pennsylvania’s far-reaching transportation funding plan. Act 89 enabled transit, aviation, rail freight and pedestrian/bicycle modes of transportation to obtain dedicated sources of funds for the first time, placing the modes on firmer footing for future initiatives.
PennDOT will open a new round of Multimodal Transportation Fund applications on Feb. 26, 2018, with applications due on March 30, 2018. Visit www.penndot.gov and click on “Multimodal Transportation,” then “Projects & Programs” for information.
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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact William Kenny at 215-533-0440 or email at [email protected].