Some Mayfair residents last week expressed opposition to a PennDOT Highway Safety Improvement Program plan to change the driving direction of the 3500 block of Ryan Avenue, between Leon Street and Frankford Avenue.
At present, Ryan Avenue is open to one lane of traffic for motorists heading west.
PennDOT is proposing that traffic, including the SEPTA Route 66 bus, instead come east. At the traffic light at Frankford and Ryan, under the HSIP proposal, there would be two lanes, and motorists would have a steady green arrow. Drivers in the left lane would turn onto Frankford and head north. Drivers in the right lane could either turn onto southbound Frankford or make a short right and then a left onto eastbound Cottman Avenue.
Neighborhood activist Pete McDermott saw the flyer for the Feb. 9 “community meeting,” but instead walked into the Mayfair Community Center to see what he called a “Stations of the Cross” setup of visuals. City Councilman Mike Driscoll, whose support for the plan is needed for it to pass Council, was at another previously scheduled event. He had two representatives at Mayfair Community Center.
“I want people to have a say,” McDermott announced to the crowd.
McDermott and others critiqued the plan. Only a few people, including two from outside the neighborhood, voiced support.
McDermott was happy that the plan no longer includes bike lanes, since he said nobody uses the ones installed on Ryan Avenue near Abraham Lincoln High School.
Some people worried that drivers would continue to turn onto Ryan from Frankford, and that the change would add more traffic to an already-congested intersection at Frankford, Cottman and Ryan. They believe PennDOT wants more traffic on eastbound Cottman to justify the expensive new ramp to southbound I-95.
Money could be better spent elsewhere, they said.
“We have a lot of potholes that haven’t been fixed,” McDermott said.
Among those at the meeting were representatives of PennDOT, the city Department of Streets, SEPTA and the HNTB design firm.
PennDOT is proposing the changes for safety reasons, citing the number of accidents at the intersection. New curb bumpouts in the plan will decrease pedestrian crossing distances.
The plan to change Ryan Avenue dates to 2019, and there were a couple of meetings. After COVID, there was little talk of the idea, but it recently passed a City Council committee. Driscoll has not called for a full Council vote, and expects PennDOT and the streets department to consider feedback from last week’s meeting.
Some residents want a better-publicized meeting, with a question-and-answer session, saying the meeting was not listed in state Rep. Pat Gallagher’s newsletter that hit mailboxes the day of the meeting.
Handouts at the meeting referred to Options A, B, C and D. McDermott supports Option E, with no change to traffic on Ryan.
“Call your councilperson,” he said.
One thing everyone in the crowd agreed on was the need to re-striple local roads. ••
