Comments for “Drexel University Master Plan”
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this is a more complex and difficult one. The end of the "feeder" part of 38th Street occurs at Lancaster Ave. (This is the result of the abandonment of an earlier plan to continue the wide feeder further north - all the way back to I-76 near the Zoo.) This puts a great deal of traffic onto the suddenly-narrowed 38th Street and onto Lancaster Ave. westbound. The worst part is that these drivers are in a "highway" frame of mind due to the wide and relatively unsignaled stretch of feeder; they turn onto Lancaster Ave. at high speed with no regard for pedestrians; they even typically honk or shout at any pedestrian with the temerity to be crossing Lancaster Ave. in front of them. I think that the best solution would be to narrow and calm 38th Street northbound starting a block earlier - at Powelton Ave. Bump-outs at the beginning and end of parking lanes and a wider, tree-planted median would convey the sense that the "highway" has ended, delivering slower, calmer traffic to the Lancaster Ave. intersection.
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similar to the situation at 35th Street, but the aperture is narrower and it would be harder to make it 90-degrees. There has been some talk of closing this short stretch of 37th Street (one-way northbound) as a dining terrace for Stan's Deli and the Greenline Cafe. That would be nice, but it would complicate the traffic flow, requiring more left turns from Powelton Ave. onto 37th Street northbound. Narrowing the aperture and making it closer to 90-degrees might work better.
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this is a very broad aperture handling both cars coming south on 36th Street and cars coming north on 36th Street, turning into Race Street. The current crosswalk markings seek to lead pedestrian crossers on an "L' path, stopping on the nothern corner, but no one does it that way - they simply cross the broad way, parallel to Lancaster Ave. Some kind of island in the middle would give pedestrians a mid-way rest and would slow turning traffic.
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for traffic headed west on Lancaster Ave., this is a very slight turn onto 35th Street, meaning that most cars barely slow down as they turn, endangering pedestrian crossers. This would would be fairly easy to correct because the aperture into 35th Street is broad; with some "bumping out" on the east corner, the aperture could be narrowed and the required turn made a full 90-degrees.