Opinion: Obstacles on the Delaware River Trail endanger runners and walkers

A parking authority employee instructed me that the vehicles most frequently belong to off-duty police working the bars.  As you would possibly count on, it’s onerous to ticket an officer. I took an image of three vehicles within the public proper of means exterior of Cavanaugh’s River Deck and was instantly approached and threatened.

Is the opposite aspect of the road an possibility?  Not when there’s building fully blocking the sidewalks.

And southbound close to the large field shops, the off-street bike path is closed with a series hyperlink fence and a homeless encampment has taken over the realm.

Philadelphia has a Full Streets program, whose objective is to handle “transportation choices for all Philadelphians.” The workplace is planning – and has accomplished – long-range bicycle initiatives, however has no {dollars} allotted to pedestrian-only tasks.

Additional, the workplace is simply accountable for transportation tasks, not for upkeep. That’s why the brand-new bike path alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive is already fully overgrown and tough to make use of.

Profitable transportation options require the three E’s – engineering, training and enforcement. The straightforward answer – as is the case all through the town – is for companies, building corporations, and their staff to find out about and preserve consciousness of the wants of others who use the streets and sidewalks.

The Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia provides a great instance of lead an training marketing campaign primarily based on their in depth advocacy for cyclists.

For now, although, the shortage of entry to devoted areas for working and strolling within the neighborhoods alongside the Delaware River pressure us onto metropolis streets with their uneven cobblestone, visitors lights, congestion, and ever-present out of doors tables.

David Haas lately retired from his profession as a guide and venture supervisor for main authorities monetary and technical packages. He moved to Philadelphia 6 years in the past and is lively as a volunteer in neighborhood associations, non-profits, and the non secular neighborhood.