Petition for Parking-Protected Bike Lane on 47th St

"Protected bike lanes make our streets safer for everyone."

"I used to live near the corner of 48th and Cedar, and the protected bike lane and other traffic calming measures made a noticeable difference in decreasing aggressive driving there. They should be implemented on 47th street too."

"As a Philadelphia bicyclist and environmentalist, I am in favor of any measures that increase bicycle and pedestrian safety. We should be always increasing alternatives to motor vehicle transport."

"Parking protected bike lanes are the 2nd best kind of lanes, beside those protected by concrete barriers. Please add these and other traffic calming measures to 47th and beyond."

"47th street can get a little bit crazy, especially coming off of Grey's Ferry ave Bridge. The bike lane on the bridge itself is great, but the west side has encroaching trees that could push cyclists into the traffic lane. meanwhile, people are flying across the bridge/taking the 47th street exit as if its the grand prix. 47th street itself between the bridge and ~ Baltimore is extremely hazardous. People drive fast as hell, leave mere inches of clearance, swerve wildly past you, etc. Every time I get on my bike (which is a necessity to get to work) I am facing down death. Protected 47th street would go a long way."

"Philly has the most chaotic and unsafe roadways I've ever experienced. As a cyclist I find myself often taking extra steps to protect myself that I don't always agree with, having to often take to sidewalks or walk my bike in areas of insane or crazy traffic. In almost every bike lane, drivers treat them like extra parking spaces or a place to put hazards on. This is assuming they aren't actively blocking it with their hazards on. Philly drivers can't be trusted with other drivers, much less, cyclists. We need protected bike lanes to prevent death."

"Bikers deserve to bike without having to fear for their lives!!!"

"Please prioritize the lives of people walking & biking in our neighborhoods, this is what makes a city a community."

"I'm about to move a block from 47th st and I hope to be able to bike there safely with my wife and future kids. I've had too many stressful encounters on the wild streets of Philly!"

"Bikers should not have to risk their lives to get around the neighborhood."

"I want safe streets and neighborhoods for my own family and for all Philadelphia families."

"As a neighbor and cyclist, I fully support this! I witness reckless driving all too regularly on 47th Street. A protected bike lane and traffic calming measures are urgently needed to make it safer for everyone."

"I live one block away. Another bike lane would be for keeping bikes off the sidewalks."

"The city needs to step up to protect its bikers and decrease the senseless deaths and accidents that could be avoided with a bike lane!"

"Please make 47th St. safer for pedestrians and cyclists! We particularly need a corresponding bike lane to match the one on 48th St., and daylighting around the intersections to prevent the kind of reckless driving behaviors that endanger neighborhood residents with the current layout."

"More protected (fully!) bike lanes in West Philly thank you!"

"Traffic calming measures and protected bike lanes save lives and make driving safer for everyone."

"The 48th St project has been a great success. Let’s finish the job on 47th St!"

"Putting in protected bikes lanes seems to be the only thing Philly can do regarding infrastructure that is environmentally friendly, so do more of it. Would much rather concrete barriers than parked cars as the barrier, so the drivers have good visibility of bikers and are not surprised at intersections. And increase SEPTA in every direction to reduce cars on the roads."

"Safer streets for bikes make safer streets for all!"

"We need a safer 47th street for the Lea Students who walk and bike to school, and the kids who cross Woodland Ave to the spray ground and park! Please implement OTIS plans for the safest option from Market Street to the Gray's Ferry Bridge!"

"I love helping out good people who are doing good things. Thanks for the effort! 🚲🚲🚲"

"Let’s get it done. We need a network of bike lanes and that means no more one way routes"

"We need family friendly streets that are safe, comfortable, and accessible to all."

"We need safer streets!!"

"End transportation violence! Our city needs more bike lanes and safer, pedestrian-friendly roads"

"We need safer streets for our city. I am lucky enough to live in a walkable neighborhood, but something as simple as walking has become hazardous in Philadelphia. Cars frequently speed down smaller streets and I can tell they have no intention of stopping until they see a pedestrian step out into the crosswalk. I have also nearly gotta hit by cars trying to run red lights when I had the right of way as a pedestrian (with a crosswalk sign and everything). Philly cannot realize its potential to become the walkable, cosmopolitan city that it can be with such dangerous traffic conditions. Please prioritize PEOPLE in our city, not CARS!"

"Please make 47th street safer! I experience it as unreasonably dangerous on bike and on foot. The 48th street redesign is amazing. Option 2 presented by OTIS last October and February needs to happen for 47th street too, giving us a needed southbound protected biking route, and speed bumps and one-way conversion for car traffic."

"I love biking but I am very hesitant to bike in Philadelphia because I don't feel safe. I have a friend who got into a pretty serious bike accident last year."

"Paint doesn't do anything, we need concrete barriers to make us safe"

"I am someone who has lived in Spruce Hill for three years and vote in every election. I also get around my city primarily by bike, on foot, or on SEPTA. Too often, I feel unsafe and disrespected by fellow Philadelphians in cars disrespecting traffic laws in ways that endanger the lives of themselves and others, exacerbated by auto-centric infrastructure. Parking-protected bike lanes, a global and national best practice today, from Chestnut to Grays Ferry Bridge will make this journey safe for all roadway users in line with the city's Vision Zero commitment, and encourage everyone who is able to to make this trip using more sustainable, and accessible, modes of travel."

"Protect our kids, our community, with safer traffic"

"More non-car infrastructure is just a smart idea. As simple as that."

"Es necesario un carril para bicicletas"

"It's scary to be a pedestrian, a driver, AND a biker in this city - and we need safer infrastructure for everybody!!!"

"Philly needs more bike lanes"

"I would like more safe bike infrastructure"

"Please make it safe"

"Would love to see a protected bike lane here!"

"I’ve had countless near misses with cars even while being in the bike lane. Let’s make Philly safer!"

"Fucking cars"

"My sister and her wife live here. Please help keep them safe!!"

"I live on 48th and the lanes are a big improvement"

"The repainting of 48th St has been phenomenal. I feel much safer when walking and love the extra space for humans and bikes instead of cars. I would love to see this paint pattern extended to 47th st and beyond for the safety of our neighbors and to make Philly a more bikeable city!"

"This will make my commute home much safer as I won't have to ride against the direction of traffic."

"I have personally seen how protected bike infrastructure gets people out riding where previously they would have felt too unsafe doing so. Let's build on the progress we've already made and make cycling something all Philadelphians can enjoy!"

"Hi I bike by this route regularly and would like any chance for it to improve my morning commute."

"Walking and even driving on and around 47th St feels extremely unsafe. I worry for bikers, pedestrians, and children who have no protection against reckless driving. I live on 46th where speed bumps were recently installed. Many people still speed over them but it has calmed things down overall. 47th St needs protected bike lanes in both directions as does 48th."

"The 48th street bike lane is great, but the original plan that the neighborhood agreed to last year was for a northbound bike lane on 48th and a southbound one on 47th. What are we supposed to do with only a northbound bike lane? No one can do a full round-trip bike commute with only one bike lane going one way. The city needs to follow through. I have gone to nearly every meeting about these bike lanes and I can’t believe how easy it is for a minority of loud voices to obstruct commonsense solutions that other cities have long ago committed to and followed through on. Committing to building one lane and then going back on building the other is frankly ridiculous. Continuing this piecemeal, disjointed approach will yield piecemeal, disjointed results."

"Thanks to the 48th St protected bike lane I feel safe biking with my daughter all the way to the river. Thank you! Please make a southbound protected lane on 47th!! Ignore all the people whining about parking. The streets don’t belong to them."

"Protected bike lanes save lives!"

"A southbound protected bike lane is necessary now that 48th St only has a northbound lane. Bikers need to be able to safely travel in both directions."

"While the 48th Street bike lane has made northbound traveling safer for everyone, it has made southbound traveling cycling extremely unsafe. Drivers are yelling at me to get on the sidewalk and threatening to run me over. A Southbound bike lane is urgently needed."

"The southbound bike lane was removed on 48th street when the road was repaved. We have so few safe places to ride already. If you take away what little we have you need to have a plan to put it back. The lack of a southbound lane has encouraged some riders to travel the wrong way in the northbound lane, creating a dangerous situation for bike riders and motorists alike, who don’t expect people to be going against traffic. The City caused this situation to become more dangerous by failing to put back what was taken away in a timely and equitable manner. It’s time to fix this problem and build the southbound lane on 47th st."

"This is such an important opportunity to improve bike infrastructure in Philly which is practically non-existent."

"Bike lanes are essential for safe commuting in this City"

"Please consider this measure that would make biking viable in what is currently a very dangerous corridor."

"We need more design changes to our streets that deter reckless driving. Li li Natte should not have had to suffer such emotional trauma of getting struck by a car, but she did. Please make our streets safer, NOW."

"My family and friends tell me they would be out on their bikes more if they had safer options to get around. It’s quite sad we’re turning people off a healthy lifestyle with unsafe infrastructure."

"A bike network requires safe routes that take people from where they are to where they need to go. Currently this area only has that in one direction. Everyone has to return home and this allows a safe way to do it."

"While the updated 48th bike lane is great, local cyclists lost a southbound path that I hope is regained by the work on 47th. I have seen too many accidents (and bad driving generally) at the intersection of 47/Baltimore that I think we are long overdue for traffic calming measures to make this heavy pedestrian area safer."

"With the dangers cyclists are facing it's unacceptable to be removing infrastructure for cyclists."

"I live right off of 48th Street and bike as my main mode of transportation - the new northbound bike lane increases my safety, joy, and quality of life almost every day! Unfortunately, now that the rest of the road is narrower, it is even more dangerous than before to be riding on 48th Street southbound. We NEED 47th Street to be our go-to, parallel bike lane, just like Pine and Spruce in center city! But this will be even better, because they would be parking protected! As a sonetimes-driver too too, I understand that the more predictable the streets are for bikers and drivers, the safer everyone will be. That is the beauty of bike lanes!"

"The protected bike lane on 48th St is great, but it's only half the solution since we need a protected lane going south! I used to live on 47th St and it's a highly trafficked road that is fortunately also wide enough to build in a protected bike lane without impacting parking. This is a no-brainer to protect pedestrians and bikers and move towards Vision Zero."

"I used to live in Spruce Hill and still travel to the area frequently to visit friends and businesses. We need safe streets for the numerous pedestrians and bikers in the neighborhood. Bike infrastructure has improved in West Philly, but it's hard to go N-S and there are major gaps. Please build off the incredible 48th Street bike lane with a new bike lane on 47th street and other street-calming measures to protect residents! Thank you!"

"I'd feel safer biking with my child on 47th st. with a protected lane. Please make our neighborhood safer!"

"The 48th st bike lane has been amazing! Let’s keep the progress coming."

"We need more protected bike lanes to keep us safe!"

"Please support more protected bike lanes while it's cheaper to add them instead of later! Protected bike lanes save lives!"

"The 48th Street bike lane has vastly improved my quality of life in West Philly, so long as I'm traveling north. When I told my neighbor how much I liked the lane, she said she hadn't even noticed it despite driving on the road the day before. People always think they won't like any road diets, but then it's always fine. Please please please make a matched lane on 47th!"

"I live between 50th and 51st, and ride on 47th almost every day. I don’t want to be injured or killed! Please make the street safer."

"Protected bike lanes with concrete barriers protects cyclists, pedestrians, and out community!"

"I live right next to 47th Street and my partner's main form of transit is biking. A protected bike lane would massively improve safety for bikers who commute by connecting another north-south street to the east-west streets with bike infrastructure."

"A protected bike lane on this street is badly needed!"

"I live off of 47th Street and we need traffic calming. I've been honked at and yelled at by drivers just for riding my bike. It shouldn't this dangerous and stressful just to get around the neighborhood. There needs to be a separated lane for bikes. Li li Natte was my neighbor and she deserved to live on a street that made people safe."

"This is right in my neighborhood. Being able to ride north on 48th is lovely, but having no safe way to ride south is disturbing. I would also like to use the Grays Ferry Bridge more, but do not feel safe accessing it from 47th St as it is now configured."

"Further protected bike lanes will save lives and decrease automobile congestion!"

"Biking is my main way of getting around the city. I've had so many close calls and minor crashes all revolving around motor vehicles causing me harm. Protected bikes lanes work and keep people safe. Philly deserves safe interconnected bike infrastructure"

"Protection needs to exist in both directions. It makes no sense to only make half a journey safe."

"Thank you for prioritizing the safety of all road users in the new redesign. I look forward to riding a protected 47th street bike lane for my delivery route."

"47th St. is the way I get to South Philly from home. I'm looking forward to being able to ride it without having to worry about my safety!"