Nearly a century ago, Roosevelt Boulevard was established to connect the outskirts of Northeast Philadelphia. This road has caused devastation. Recently, $2.5 million has been provided by the U.S. federal government to plan to fix the catastrophe. The city needs to reduce the congestion of traffic, which reduces accidents.
The Boulevard should be remodeled to be more like an expressway. On this expressway, it would have only certain exits that are frequently used by drivers today. Then, the driver would take smaller streets to get to their destination. This would not be a stop-and-go system in which cars would be stopped at lights.
The next task should be to make jughandles for left turns. A jughandle is an off-the-road ramp that has the same effect of the left turn while being a safer route for driving away from the intersection. The jughandles would eliminate cars getting stuck in the middle of intersection with limited times to turn and instead, make a specific time for the cars to go to not cause confusion.
The final task needs to be completed for the cluster to stop and to help out the pedestrians by making an alternative route for walking. The common problem for the pedestrians is they are getting stuck in the middle of the Boulevard because of the limited time given to them to cross. The large problem arises if pedestrians have some type of disability. The way to fix this problem is to construct an overpass bridge that would create a walkway for pedestrians that would also not interfere with traffic.
Padraig Scanlon
The Obama administration has given $2.5 million to fix the Boulevard and/or to redesign it overall. However, there has been no perfect plan to decrease the amount of accidents, deaths and traffic along this boulevard. This linking road has been around since 1902 when Mayor Samuel H. Ashbridge proposed the construction of it. To fix the problem, we must add more speeding monitors, add more pedestrian “countdown” signs, and more cameras on traffic lights to catch people running red lights.
Cameras on traffic lights would keep drivers from trying to beat the light. If the drivers do run a red light they will be ticketed. The cameras will take a picture of their license plate and find out the driver.
Speeding monitors will also catch drivers when they exceed the speed limit. This will make the driver be able to stop if a person or object suddenly makes its way onto the road. This will also make drivers concentrate on the road.
More pedestrian countdown signs would also be a good advancement onto the Boulevard. Death count and injury rate will decrease when more of these signs are added. This will surely help people in Philadelphia be confident when driving, or in this case walking, across the Roosevelt Boulevard.
All three of these solutions can dramatically help people prevent getting into accidents and even decrease the death rate on this dangerous road.
Gavin Boyd
The Roosevelt Boulevard has been creating an abundant amount of traffic daily. Philadelphia was granted $2.5 million to try and fix the Boulevard. The best way to fix Roosevelt Boulevard would be to change the positions of some of the lights. There are many unnecessary lights throughout the road that add to the traffic. Just by eliminating the pointless traffic lights, traffic would decrease.
Another issue is pedestrians. It needs to be fixed by creating more passageways for them to cross. Adding more lanes and crossing areas for the people would be key. Streets designed for buses and pedestrians are needed. Buses take up much of the traffic and the many traffic lights as well. Safety is an important issue of the road.
The Boulevard has many accidents with pedestrians and vehicles. It handles 90,000 vehicles per day. The second and third worst intersections in the country are both found on the Boulevard, they are Red Lion Road and Grant Avenue.
Since 2001, 150 people have been killed in traffic accidents. The road is too wide for pedestrians to cross. There is too much traffic for bus riders. For motorists, it is too chaotic.
Many attempts have been made to fix the Boulevard, but they did little to benefit the road. Obama administration has recently given Philadelphia $2.5 million to fix the road. They plan to make the Boulevard safe and efficient for motorists, pedestrians, transit riders, and bicyclists.
The city predicts it would take three and a half years to complete the planning study. It would take five years and millions of dollars to rebuild the Boulevard. It would take them by 2023 to rebuild the Boulevard.
Hunter Smith
Ever since the creation of Roosevelt Boulevard, it has been dangerous for not only motorists, but also for pedestrians. The city of Philadelphia has been granted $2.5 million to figure out ways to fix the Boulevard. There have been previous attempts, but none were successful. Two ways to fix the Boulevard are to create a pedestrian overpass and to start a rapid bus transit system.
There have been 150 deaths and many more injured on the Boulevard since 2001. A pedestrian overpass would allow people to cross the wide boulevard a lot easier. This would decrease the number of people getting injured.
According to State Farm, the second- and third-worst intersections in the country lie on Roosevelt Boulevard. If pedestrians were able to safely cross on these intersections, Red Lion Road and Grant Avenue, fewer accidents would occur.
In the last five years, there have been 43 pedestrian deaths on the Boulevard. A pedestrian overpass would greatly decrease this number. An overpass can be built every mile. This would allow pedestrians to safely cross the Boulevard without stopping traffic. Pedestrians cause five of every seven accidents on the Boulevard.
Public transportation is a very important industry to the city of Philadelphia. It transports 3.9 million people per year. A rapid bus transit system would reduce traffic. The system would also stop slowing down drivers with the frequent stops of SEPTA buses. This system would cause less congestion for everyone.
Efforts in the past have not worked; the way to finally fix this problem is to create a pedestrian overpass and a rapid bus transit system.
Patrick Horan
On Sept. 19, the Obama administration gave Philadelphia $2.5 million to repair the Boulevard. There have been many attempts to fix the Boulevard in the past that have failed. They could use the money to take the lights away and raise the speed limit. This would allow cars to travel fluently and without the constant stop and start which is causing large traffic jams. As for pedestrians crossing, they would be able to add overpasses for them to walk on in order to cross to the other side.
Roosevelt Boulevard is most arguably the most important road in Philadelphia. It is so well-known and important that when people say “the Boulevard” they automatically know that they’re talking about the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Boulevard.
Since the congestion of the Boulevard is a huge problem, the ultimate goal should be to dispose of it. If we allowed the vehicles to go without interference then traffic would move more fluently. There would still have to be lights so cars could turn or go in different directions, but there would be much less because there would be no need for civilians crossing. The civilians will have bridge-like overpasses to safely cross.
In the past, many highways have profited by using this method. It allows cars easy and free access to their destination. Even though no street can be completely congestion-free because of accidents and other foreseeable mishaps, this will be a large step in the right direction.
Cole Gaither
For the past decade the Boulevard has been a huge problem in the city of Philadelphia. It became such a problem that in September the Obama administration gave the city $2.5 million to fix Roosevelt Boulevard. There have been many attempts at fixing this deadly road but all have failed.
What the city of Philadelphia needs to do to fix the Boulevard is add a lane for just SEPTA buses and to have buses that run on side streets. The city of Philadelphia could also build a subway system under the Boulevard.
This would be the perfect solution to Roosevelt Boulevard because the many SEPTA buses that run on the Boulevard clog up the streets. These slow moving buses cause traffic because cars trailing behind these buses are forced to go slower and stop at just about every corner along the Boulevard.
If the city built a subway under the Boulevard it would completely erase bus routes running on the Boulevard. This would mean that instead of taking the route 14 bus, one of SEPTA’s most popular routes, these people would take the subway system under the Boulevard.
This new subway system would act as all of the buses that run utilize the Boulevard. The route 14 bus basically runs straight up and down the Boulevard and this bus runs very often because of the popularity of this route. If the city created a subway system there wouldn’t be buses clogging the Boulevard. They would use fewer trains and not run as often because of the size of the trains compared to a bus.
Tyler Michels
