Transportation Connectivity

Both Fishtown and Port Richmond have access to all modes of public transit throughout the city. However, the majority of bus routes are concentrated in Fishtown and accessing the MarketFrankford Line (MFL) subway line becomes a longer commute from most points of the neighborhood as you enter Port Richmond.

By automobile, both neighborhoods find easy access to the city and the region through North Delaware Avenue and I-95. The ease of roadway access has resulted in the majority of neighborhood residents choosing to commute by car even with 10 bus routes, a trolley route, and the MFL sevicing the site.

Fishtown Septa Bus MFL Station

COMMUTING FLOW

Most residents in Port Richmond and Fishtown work in Center City, University City, and in the neighborhood area. There are more residents in Fishtown who work in these destinations, comprising 27.3% of total commuters, while Port Richmond residents make up 19.9% of this workforce.

FREIGHT RAIL

There are two freight rails within the study area. One is the Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad, which runs along the Delaware River waterfront and Aramingo Avenue. The other is the Richmond Industrial Track owned by Conrail running through Kensington and Port Richmond, which is an active industrial rail. The operating freight rail, which runs adjacent to pedestrian activity, raises public concerns for the safety of residents crossing nearby.

I-95 is undergoing a long-term and multi-phased reconstruction. The part of I-95 within this site area continues from the Girard Avenue Interchange to the Allegheny/Castor Interchange (GIR) project area and from Ann Street to the Frankford Creek (AFC) area. This section

I-95 RECONSTRUCTION

of I-95 is one of the busiest, with average daily traffic ranging from 120,000 to 160,000 riders. It also faces some of the worst congestion, especially along the southbound side, parallel with Fishtown.

The section of reconstruction in this neighborhood aims to expand southbound I-95 from three lanes to four lanes in each direction, contruct a fifth auxiliary lane for ramp traffic at Girard Avenue and Allegheny Avenue and reconstruct southboud on-off ramps at Girard Avenue. The project is expected to end in 2023 with the a total cost of $311.5 million.

In addition to changes to the street surfaces, the public spaces underneath and adjacent to the interstate are also under redesign. Connector streets, which act as an important access link between the neighborhoods and the riverfront, are also expecting changes. The improvements to connector streets include lighting, landscaping, signage, and improved sidewalks and bicycle lanes in order to increase pedestrian, cyclist, and motorist safety. Up until now, only the Frankford Avenue connector and the Columbia Avenue connector have improved.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

The area is served by 10 bus routes. Most of the buses have the maximum headway of 30 minute frequencies, with the exception of Route 89 and 39 which have a headway of every 60 minutes, and Route 60 with a headway of every 15 minutes.

The MFL, which connects residents to Center City, serves the two neighborhoods with bus connections improving access specifically in Port Richmond.

Residents of Fishtown have walkable access to the Girard and Berks stations since both are within 0.25 miles from most parts of the neighborhood. Resdients also have the ability to take Route 5 or 15B to Girard station or take the Route 39 bus to the Huntingdon station.

By contrast, residents of Port Richmond could take Route 54, 60 or 89 to reach the Somerset station, Allegheny station and Tioga station. However, they need to spend more time in transit to reach the MFL stations than residents of Fishtown.

NEIGHBORHOOD CONNECTIVITY

PROBLEMS FACING CONNECTIVITY

Between Fishtown and Port Richmond there are four streets that cross both neighborhoods: Belgrade Street, Thompson Street, Tulip Street and Aramingo Avenue. However, traveling by foot between the two neighborhoods and to the riverfront is challenging. I-95, the 7-lane North Delaware Avenue, big box shopping corridors along Upper and Lower Aramingo Ave, as well as the poorly-lit Lehigh Viaduct act as barriers to access through and around the site boundary.

Pedestrians and cyclists face many barriers that inhibit safe access throughout the neighborhoods and to the riverfront. I-95 and Delaware Avenue on the east, force pedestrians to traverse a multilane arterial road in order to reach the riverfront. To the north, the Lower Aramingo big box commercial area with it’s sea of parking spaces, inhibit comfortable pedestrian movement towards the MFL on Kensington Avenue. Upper Aramingo Ave and Castor Ave border big box and industrial parcels further discouraging pedestrian use.

Connecter Streets

Map of study area connections and barriers.

HARD BARRIERS

The I-95, Delaware Avenue, Upper Aramingo, the Lehigh Viaduct, Lower Aramingo, and Castor Avenue constitute concrete barriers to access through and outside our site. The I-95 creates unpleasant and wide underpasses to cross before then forcing the pedestrian to cross Delaware Avenue’s seven lanes.

Upper Aramingo is home to a big box commercial corridor that sours access to the MFL line on Kensington Avenue with its sprawling parking lots, large setbacks, and uninspiring facades. This also makes the flow of residents outside of the study area, into it, and towards the waterfront unlikely.

The Lehigh Viaduct’s squalid underpass and Lower Aramingo’s parking squander any sense of connection and walkability between the two neighborhoods.

Castor Avenue on the north borders big box commercial and industrial parcels. It backs more industrial space, a large I-95 interchange, and Frankford Creek. This means the study area is bounded quite solidly in all directions, and disjointed between itself due to the Lehigh Viaduct that runs between the two neighborhoods of Fishtown and Port Richmond.

NEIGHBORHOOD THOROUGHFARES

The site has only four streets running through both neighborhoods - Belgrade Street, Thompson Street, Tulip Street and Aramingo Avenue. The former three are intercepted by both the Lower Aramingo Avenue big box business corridor and the Lehigh Viaduct, which make movement between the two exceedingly difficult.

RIVERFRONT CONNECTORS

The study area has a plethora of streets offering riverfront connections, albeit not the friendliest. Those streets are Allegheny Avenue, Somerset Street, Huntington Street, Cumberland Street, Berks Street, Palmer Street, Columbia Street, and Marlborough Street. Only two out of eight are located in Port Richmond, creating an unequal level of access to riverfront recreation. These streets all cross the I-95 underpasses and the 7-lane Delaware Avenue, making for an unpleasant non-automobile experience.

CONNECTING NEIGHBORHOODS TO EACH OTHER & THE RIVERFRONT

Port Richmond and Fishtown are divided from each other by the Lehigh Viaduct and big box commercial on Aramingo Avenue. The viaduct has only three connector streets between the neighborhoods at Tulip Street, Belgrade Street and E Thompson Street. The difficulty of movement between the neighborhoods further hinders the ability for residents to enjoy equal access to amenities and reinforces Port Richmond’s insularity. While I-95 is a current barrier for movement, the I-95 reconstruction project has presented an opportunity for major redesign changes to surface streets and public spaces underneath and adjacent to the interstate. While the project has exacerbated connectivity concerns to the waterfront and the community, the project also invites the opportunity to consider improvements to the streetscapes including, better bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

Unfinished Trail along Delaware

N Delaware Ave

Lehigh Viaduct Neighborhood Street

I-95 Sound Barrier

Lehigh Viaduct

NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY

The main pressures and issues regarding neighborhood safety in the site area include: contamination, opioid use, dangerous road networks, and recent development.

CONTAMINATION

Fishtown and Port Richmond lie in the path of redevelopment pressure. They were also once home to 14 secondary lead smelters.

Those smelters left a legacy of elevated lead concentrations in soils. Recent construction and demolition has disturbed soils and exposed underlying contamination, raising concern with local residents. High levels of lead and zinc are present particularly in the old, industrial areas of the site area. These levels are several times higher than the safe standards for soil concentration set forth by the Department of Environmental Protection.

Fishtown and Port Richmond do not have significant homeless populations, but their neighbors to the West Kensington and Harrowgate have a greater percentage of homeless residents, exacerbated by the Opioid Crisis.The interrelated crises and drug use have impacted the built environment in and around the study area. In 2011, a homeless encampment along Richmond street was cleared. Port Richmond and Kensington also share a police precinct, and Port Richmond residents have significant say in issues of safety. NKCDC oversees projects related to housing support for families strugging to maintain tenure in their home.

The road network in the study area is divided by I-95. Most of the area to the west side of I-95 is residential. Lehigh Ave, Allegheny Ave, Castor Ave serve as the major east-west corridors with N Delaware Ave, Richmond St, Aramingo Ave, Frankford Ave serving as the main north-south thoroughfares. Most of the traffic within the study area concentrates on North Delaware Avenue and Aramingo Avenue. According to Philadelphia's Vision Zero plan, eight arterial roads in

HOMESLESSNESS & OPIOID USE

Industrial Site

Opioid Overdose Crisis

Port Richmond Trail Network

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

the study area are part of the high injury network, indicating high numbers of traffic-related deaths and unsafe road conditions.

Narrow one-way streets are common throughout the residential areas of the neigbhorhood., Parking is common on the both sides of the streets hindering people from cycling through the neighborhoods.

BIKE NETWORK

The existing bike lanes are insufficient, interrupted and unsafe. Bike sharrows, where cyclists share the lane with motor vehicles or without a physical barrier are common in the neighborhoods. The bike lanes on North Delaware Avenue are especially precarious with commonly high traffic volumes and vehicle speeds reaching up to 55 MPH.

DEVELOPMENT PRESSURE

The construction boom in Fishtown has led to concerns about street safety, the integrity of the structural foundations of entire blocks, and a pervading sense that the neighborhood is perpetually under construction, with street closures, debris left by contractors, and illegal building overnight characterizing street conditions. Concerned residents have organized together to rezone segments of Fishtown to protect limited parking through set back RSAs. They have also fought against the expansion of multiunit housing, raising controversy in the neighborhood. Facebook groups such as River Wards L&I, crowdsource community knowledge surrounding questionable development jobs across the neighborhood. through set back RSAs.

Relavant Real Estate News

FOOD ACCESS

Food access is a challenge for the North Delaware Avenue Study Area. While the restaurant scene is one of Fishtown’s greatest community assets and economic drivers, the neighborhood lacks plentiful grocery stores accessible for lower income residents. Despite its vibrant local restaurant reflective of the neighborhood’s Eastern European population, Port Richmond is considered a low-density food zone lacking places to buy nutritious and affordable food. Port Richmond also lacks emergency food depositories found through Fishtown. Residents in both neighborhoods face barriers to accessing nutritious and affordable food.

Food apartheid zones are commonly defined as geographic areas lacking immediate and affordable access to nutritious food at a safe and walkable distance. Food apartheid is often a symptom and reflection of disinvestment. In Port Richmond, the census tracts with the lowest access to grocers, are also the tracts with the lowest median household incomes and highest rates of poverty. These low access areas can be found closer to I-95, Richmond Street, and the Delaware river, between Lehigh and Alleghany. These pockets of the neighborhood also lack access to transit options like the MFL.

Food Access Map

DEFINING FOOD ACCESS CHALLENGES

Inside a Fishtown Grocery