For safety’s sake, it’s time to curtail traffic in Philadelphia’s parks | Editorial

For many Philadelphians, the city’s parks and recreation centers are an oasis. While the city underinvests in our parks system when compared with its East Coast neighbors like Baltimore and Washington, D.C., Philadelphia still offers residents free places to hike, hoop, swim, splash, picnic, and play.

While our parks and playgrounds often serve as a refuge from the summer’s heat, the long-standing practice of allowing motorized traffic in many of these spaces has undermined that goal.

The inherent conflict between traffic and recreation was underscored earlier this month when a cyclist, Mario D’Adamo III, was killed in FDR Park. According to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, D’Adamo’s death was the eighth cycling fatality this year, matching last year’s total, which was the highest in 24 years.

While the Kenney administration publicly committed to eliminating traffic deaths citywide by 2030, national trends and a dearth of support for new traffic safety proposals by many City Council members have hindered that goal. While the city might not be able to stop the trend toward heavier and more dangerous vehicles and isn’t responsible for the national uptick in reckless driving on our roadways, the parks system is fully within the city’s control.

In these spaces, residents should feel safe to exercise or relax. You shouldn’t have to cycle or jog with your head on a swivel in a public park.

In these spaces, residents should feel safe to exercise or relax.

Yet much of the time, the city’s policy choices put the safety of cyclists and joggers at the bottom of the list. Many of our park spaces have essentially been turned into roadways, with safe recreation sacrificed for a faster commute or more convenient parking spot. For example, while FDR Park is meant to be a tranquil place for South Philadelphians to exercise and relax in the shade, traffic at the park’s iconic Oval makes it difficult to do so safely.

It shouldn’t be surprising that some motorists treat these spaces like highways when so little has been done to indicate otherwise. The deaths of D’Adamo and other cyclists are a consequence of the city’s inaction.

To ensure residents have access to the care-free park spaces they deserve, it’s essential that the city look to its own history. A century ago, some Philadelphians recognized the tension between high-speed traffic and recreation. In response, they banned motorized vehicles in 1924 along Wissahickon Drive — a roadway now more commonly known as Forbidden Drive.

To this day, Forbidden Drive remains a welcoming — and car-free — space to hike and enjoy nature, even as the bordering neighborhoods of Roxborough, Chestnut Hill, and Mount Airy maintain significantly more cars per household than the rest of the city. Visitors can walk, jog, cycle, and even ride horses without worrying about whether or not they’ll be struck by an aggressive motorist.

Let’s recapture that spirit. A good way to start would be to close some of the roads in Fairmount Park to through traffic. Not only would this provide more room for recreation, it would also help prevent the kind of dangerous and disruptive “car meet-ups” that the park’s accommodating design can foster.

Another priority should be reducing and redirecting traffic at FDR Park. Currently, there are parking lots both within the Oval and on the outskirts of the park. Turning the interior parking lots back into natural space would lower the number of cars using the Oval and increase the amount of usable park space for visitors. Speed bumps and other traffic-calming measures should also be implemented within the Oval itself, to ensure traffic remains at safe speeds. Research has shown pedestrians and cyclists are less likely to be killed or experience significant injuries at lower speeds.

Throughout our history, Philadelphians have always needed a place to retreat from the city’s brutal summers. It’s time to make these places the refuge residents deserve.