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UPDATE
The map and other info.
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Philly will undoubtedly be full of traffic during this year's Fourth of July weekend. And add an international concert to the lineup will only make things worse, traffic wise. The Inky has this article outlining the efforts the City is putting forth to try to handle the issue of cars around the Parkway area.
Officials have tentatively staked out a no-car zone for the concert, bounded by Market Street, Fairmount Avenue, 15th Street and 23d Street, according to a memo sent Thursday by Capt. Dennis Cullen, commander of the Ninth Police District.
Although residents with identification will be permitted to enter the no-car zone, and deliveries to businesses and homes will be allowed, Cullen said, other drivers looking to travel through the area on July 2 will be taking the long way around.
Lucky for me, I live close by. I'll just pack up my gear and walk on over, perhaps bike, to the Parkway. Lucky me.
***UPDATE***6.25
No drive zone expanded to encompass most of Fairmount and all of Center City west of Broad St and north of Market St, basically the entire northwest quadrant of Philly.
***UPDATE***6.28
The no-car zone parameters and general traffic info:
Police on the perimeter of the no-car zone beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday will direct any drivers coming to the concert to specific parking garages in the zone. Once those garages are filled, Deputy Police Commissioner Patricia Giorgio-Fox said, drivers who cannot show identification that they live in the zone or have legitimate business to conduct there will be turned away.
Drivers will be allowed to travel on the roads that constitute the perimeter of the zone: 24th and Market Streets east to Broad Street, north to Fairmount Avenue, west on Fairmount to Corinthian Avenue, north on Corinthian to Poplar Street, and then continue west to Kelly Drive. Fox said police would act to keep traffic moving. Thus, eastbound crosstown traffic on Kelly Drive will be sent east on Fairmount to Broad but not permitted to make any turns.
Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, police will bar auto traffic from a smaller area near the concert site bounded by 22d Street on the east, Pennsylvania Avenue and Fairmount on the west, the Parkway on the south, and Fairmount on the north.
***UPDATE***6.29
Inky says, don't drive, instead, take some mass transit
But with only about 12,000 (paid, off-street) parking spots in the city available, it's key to remember that public transportation is your friend.
I am going to the Navy Yard, Philadelphia to board a cruise ship (Celebrity, Horizon) 7/2 at about 12:00 Noon. I will be traveling I95 South to Broad Street. Do you know what the traffic will be like on I95 South at that time?
Posted by: arlene griffin | June 29, 2005 at 03:29 PM