Michael Carroll, Philadelphia Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS) deputy managing director, recently responded to a Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition petition demanding better protection of bike lanes and continued Vision Zero funding.
The petition included more than 6,000 signatures. The coalition began the petition in response to three crashes on July 17 that killed two people and critically injured a third.
In a letter, addressed to Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Chirs Gale, Carroll address three specific concerns on the Spruce and Pine Streets:
OTIS has developed proposals to increase safety in bike lanes and will soon seek community feedback.
The agency is working with community partners and houses of worship to stop allowing parking in bike lanes on weekends, but has encountered the problem of where to move parking so it won’t impact future multimodal planning for different corridors.
The agency plans to replace the No Parking signs with No Stopping signs along protected bike lanes. Before this can happen, the agency needs to conduct community engagement. This will occur simultaneously with the community engagement for the increased safety proposals.
OTIS is researching other areas where No Parking signs along protected bike lanes could be removed and will review options.