The Castor Avenue Safety and Streetscape Project aims to address safety concerns along an approximately 1.7-mile segment of Castor Avenue from north of Oxford Circle to Cottman Avenue. The Project limits of Castor Avenue are included in the City of Philadelphia’s High Injury Network identified in the 2020 Vision Zero Action Plan. This location was identified for safety improvements based on crash trends and crash clusters in the Project area. Some of the main safety concerns for this corridor are angle crashes, drivers running red lights, and crashes involving pedestrians.

Safety improvements will include the implementation of a road diet, which will reduce the four-lane existing Castor Avenue corridor to two lanes with a planted raised center median and left turn lanes at each city block. Furthermore, new raised curb extensions and boarding islands will be constructed for SEPTA trackless trolley stops, and parking protected bike lanes will be added to help minimize pedestrian and vehicle conflicts. Parking separated bike lanes (PSBLs) are in-street bikeways that are separated from moving motor vehicle traffic by a parking lane and a buffer area. PSBLs dedicate a separate and defined space for people bicycling using pavement marking, signage, vertical elements, and intersection treatments. To study the impacts of PSBLs in Philadelphia, the City and PennDOT developed a pilot project in 2020 on several PennDOT roads to install PSBLs, including Market Street, JFK Boulevard, and Race Street in Center City and the Chestnut Street Bridge, among others. PennDOT would add Castor Avenue and the limits of the Project to the PBSL pilot program given the successful outcomes of the other locations, like decreased crashes and speeding, and increased bicycle ridership.

A simulation of the proposed infrastructure improvements can be viewed below under “Project Vision." Additional improvements include rewiring overhead catenary systems, asphalt mill and overlay, and traffic signal upgrades. The streetscape improvements will include curb and sidewalk replacement along Castor Avenue, pedestrian scale lighting, tree and shrub pits, 6’ grass buffers between the curb and the reconstructed sidewalk, a combination of tree and shrub pits and grass buffers, proposed ADA complaint curb ramps at unsignalized mid-block side streets and planted medians. Reconstruction of select portions of deteriorated sidewalks will occur. Construction will occur within existing right-of-way.