Philadelphians have waited over a century for the Roosevelt Boulevard subway | Opinion

Northeastern Philadelphia has a public transportation problem. No frequent rapid transit serves the hundreds of thousands of people who live along the Roosevelt Boulevard corridor. The Boulevard Direct bus route doesn’t have a designated bus lane or real bus time information — nor has it spurred economic development along the corridor. Most importantly, the route doesn’t provide a one-seat ride downtown or offer an easy transfer to the Broad Street subway.

Building a subway along Roosevelt Boulevard would solve this. And while this project would be costly, we can make it happen now. Billions of dollars of federal funding exist for transportation projects from the bipartisan infrastructure law and the RAISE discretionary grant program.

All that is needed is the political will from Sen. Bob Casey, Rep. Brendan Boyle, and Mayor Jim Kenney.

Philadelphians have been waiting for the Roosevelt Boulevard subway for over 100 years. In 1913, a transit plan first proposed a subway along this route. In 1960, the subway was again proposed in the city’s Comprehensive Plan. None of these plans moved past studies, but a subway stop at the intersection of Adams and Whitaker Avenues was built in the 1960s in anticipation of a future subway line. Sears paid for the station to serve its growing regional headquarters in Northeastern Philly. The Sears complex was demolished in 1994.

Over the years, the idea for the Roosevelt Boulevard subway has reemerged periodically, but never got off the ground. Then, in May, the city of Philadelphia, SEPTA, and PennDot released the final report for Route for Change, which seems to have abandoned the subway plan entirely.

The benefits of the Roosevelt Boulevard subway would be massive. According to a 2003 study submitted by six engineering, consulting, and design firms to the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, the subway line would attract around 124,500 daily transit riders and divert roughly 83,300 daily trips from cars to transit. A trip between the Far Northeast and City Hall that’s currently 60 minutes would be cut to a manageable 32 minutes. Cumulatively, this would save motorists and transit users an estimated 12,900 hours of travel time per day.

“Rep. Boyle should recognize this as an opportunity to drive economic growth in his congressional district.”

Building the subway would also create construction jobs. This is a win-win situation and would be a game changer for Northeast Philly by increasing access to jobs, spurring development near subway stations, and boosting regional connectivity.

Rep. Boyle should recognize this as an opportunity to drive economic growth in his congressional district. With an estimated 124,500 riders, the Roosevelt Boulevard subway would have a higher daily use than any proposed subway line in the country.

The most significant drawback is the cost. The last time this project was studied in-depth, the price was projected to range from $2.5 billion and $3.4 billion (in 2000 dollars). Because of this price tag, Philadelphia’s policymakers and transit planners have moved away from the idea of a subway altogether.

This is shortsighted. I find it troubling that SEPTA and the city of Philadelphia are willing to consider paying $10.8 billion to build a partially capped expressway on Roosevelt Boulevard in a time when we need to minimize vehicle miles traveled due to climate change.

The only project that Philadelphia’s leadership can get behind is the King of Prussia Rail, which would serve an average of 6,755 weekday riders by 2040. With 124,500 weekday riders, the Roosevelt Boulevard subway would benefit so many thousands more. I can’t name a transportation project that would have a higher level of impact in terms of ridership and taking cars off of the road in this country.

Philadelphia is a huge region. We have the need — and the power — to build more than one project at once.

This is likely the only time in our generation that the city and federal government can align and fund a project of this scale. Sen. Casey, Rep. Boyle, and Mayor Kenney: Let’s do it.

Jay Arzu, a doctoral student in city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, is the cofounder of the Collective Form.

» READ MORE: Philly lays out options for Roosevelt Blvd.’s future and envisions a road remade