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The Odyssey
When it comes to public displays of its regulations, the Parking Authority seems to have taken cues from James Joyce.
-Alan Greenberger

January 23-29, 2003

cityspace

Digging the Big Dig

by Daniel Brook

At the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Economy League, the century-old organization that bills itself as a "think- and do-tank," local leaders were given seven minutes apiece to push civic improvements of their choice. Each speaker was given a hypothetical $1 billion to spend. The exercise resulted in a handful of urban development and planning proposals being floated.

The most ambitious development plan was presented by Manuel Stamatakis, who runs the Delaware River Port Authority. He called for a Boston-style "Big Dig" project to cover I-95 between Market and South streets. Boston's federally funded project to bury its downtown-splicing highway is notoriously over budget -- the latest estimates hover around $14 billion total. But as Stamatakis said, Bostonians may be embarrassed to be sopping up so many tax dollars, but they're not about to give them back. With I-95 covered over in Philadelphia, the waterfront would be linked with Center City, creating, in Stamatakis' view, a viable Penn's Landing and opportunities for more waterfront development above the highway.

Stamatakis was not the only participant to bring up the waterfront. Lewis Gantman, a for-profit retail developer with Kravco, surprised the crowd and got spontaneous applause when he suggested the City purchase Penn's Landing and turn it into a park free of any retail development.

Center City District President Paul Levy put forth a more modest highway proposal. Levy's "small dig" would bury the Vine Street Expressway at Logan Circle, bringing the area back to its original walkable design.

Liking Bikes

Over the past generation, cycling has gone from a recreational activity for children to a viable means of transportation for adults. In University City, where bicycles seem to outnumber cars, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) is spearheading a "share the road" campaign. Its goal is to increase cycling twofold by 2025 without increasing bicycle accidents, which already plague the area, by informing motorists and bicyclists about mutual respect. Informational fliers remind motorists not to drive in bike lanes and warn bicyclists to "beware of the door zone'" next to parked cars. That an official transportation institution like PennDOT is involved in boosting pollution-free cycling is a sign of just how mainstream this two-wheeled mode of getting from here to there has become.

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