VISION ZERO COMMITTEE
FORMERLY SAFETY
To promote safety for all street and sidewalk users within the neighborhood by improving street and intersection design and access, following the established principles of Vision Zero*.
*Vision Zero is an internationally adopted strategy to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and severe injuries, while increasing safety, health, and mobility for all.
Get Involved
The Vision Zero Committee meets every 3rd Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM at the SOSNA office, 1901 Christian Street (unless otherwise noted).
Who Should Get Involved
If you’re interested in improving the walkability and livability of our neighbor, the Vision Zero Committee has many neighborhood-wide projects to join in on.
Walkability Plan
The South of South Walkability Plan (2009) recognizes that targeted public investment in projects to improve walkability will build on the neighborhood’s assets while mitigating existing problems.
The Vision Zero Task Force has been working on implementing our neighborhood's Walkability Plan. The goals of this initiative are to foster a safe and pleasant pedestrian and bicycling environment, to educate residents about safe streetscape design, and to implement well-tested traffic calming measures that improve the safety of our streets for all users. The focus in on improving the experience and safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, whose needs have historically been ignored.
The Walkability Plan recognizes the value of walking, biking, and complete streets to bring vitality to the South of South neighborhood.
Grays Ferry Intersections
The effort to create a plaza at Grays Ferry and South Streets grew out of the initial attempt to address the safety of the intersections at South 23rd and South 24th Streets, Grays Ferry Avenue, and Bainbridge. We met with four City departments in 2011 to review these schemes and generate their interest in working with us. VZTZ will be working to reconvene the stakeholders that met in 2011 to restart this process.
Neighborhood Daylighting
In an effort to improve the safety of all street users, SOSNA is working with the Streets Department and the Philadelphia Parking Authority to enforce cleared crosswalks throughout the neighborhood. Daylighting will enable drivers to more easily see pedestrians, especially shorter ones (like children) and those in wheelchairs, and enable everyone to more easily see oncoming cars before choosing to cross.
Neighborhood Slow Zone
In conjunction with Philadelphia’s Vision Zero initiative, the Mayor’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability (OTIS) has announced a plan to implement pedestrian safety improvements and traffic calming through a program called Neighborhood Slow Zones. The goal of the Neighborhood Slow Zones program is to implement neighborhood-wide safety measures including installing traffic calming measures and reducing speeds to 20 MPH.
School Crosswalks
The SOSNA Safety Committee’s current walkability project focuses on implementing permanent walkability and traffic calming measures around two neighborhood elementary schools (Chester A. Arthur and E.M Staton). Both schools are in the process of creating and completing new schoolyards that will serve school children as well as the entire community. Because of this, the timing of a safety improvement project at these locations is right. The project goals are focused on creating safe pathways to the schools through a combination of education and roadway design.
