Walnut St. to undergo $2 million upgrade

Saturday morning joggers may soon be rewarded with a new set of trees and bike lanes gracing the sidelines of Walnut Street between 34th and 38th streets.

Efforts for the beautification of Walnut Street are under way, with both University and city of Philadelphia architects devising a way to calm the traffic from Walnut Street -- a state highway -- while adding the same improvements that were done to Spruce Street two years ago.

Facilities officials predict that the project will cost $2 million to complete, the same amount that the Spruce Street revamp required. Additional federal funding will also be used on the project, Facilities and Real Estate Vice President Omar Blaik said.

As funding becomes available, revamping plans will touch one block at a time.

"What we have done on Spruce Street between 38th and 34th streets is our aspiration across the campus ... and Walnut is our next hope," Blaik said.

"We don't want to announce Penn by arches and by banners," he continued. "We want to announce Penn by discovering a street vocabulary that is extremely friendly and very high caliber, with granite curves and cobblestone and trees and pedestrian lights and sidewalks that are well lit and retail fronts that are open and so on. It's really a multifaceted approach."

The plan mostly strives to calm the traffic coming from the nearby highway so that pedestrians feel safer walking down Walnut Street.

"One way [to slow traffic] is to reduce the width of the roadway, moving out the curb line at the intersection so that people can walk shorter distances before reaching the opposite sidewalk, and adding cut-ins for parking spaces," University Architect Charlie Newman said.

However, some students said Spruce Street is not the best model for an attempt at calming traffic.

The intersection at "38th and Spruce is really dangerous," College senior Lauren Cavanaugh said. "Cars never yield to pedestrians. I'd rather they fix that area first."

Calming traffic is only one of the goals Facilities officials have set for Walnut Street. Another goal is to make the area between 34th and 38th streets more pleasant for both bike riders -- thanks to a new bike lane -- and the pedestrians strolling by, while maintaining three lanes for emergency purposes.

"We are creating a band of cobblestone and a planting strip for the trees to thrive. The trees on Spruce Street are doing just fine without a cut-out in concrete," Newman said. "It's going to be another buffer between the pedestrians and the vehicles."

Schematics also foresee the installment of both standard pedestrian fixture lighting and cobra lights, the kind usually found on highways.

The plan is an outgrowth of the Campus Development Plan, which was officially established in 2000.

While a timeline has yet to be determined, Facilities officials said this project is one they are striving to bring to completion.

"This is something we want very much to do," Newman said.

Planners are working with stakeholders in West Philadelphia to take the project beyond 38th Street into the residential neighborhood.

Students said they are pleased with these beautification efforts.

"Lighting is definitely good to make the campus safer," Cavanaugh said. "Walnut is pretty attractive as it is, but I think any trees are nice, especially in West Philadelphia."

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