Photo: City of Philadelphia

Interested in applying for a Neighborhood Slow Zone in your neighborhood? Curious about the Slow Zone application process? Check out these cool tools!

The City’s Connect transportation plan, released in October, outlines the Mayor’s goals for the next seven years of transportation planning in Philadelphia. Part of the process will include rolling out traffic calming measures and pedestrian improvements in what OTIS has named “Neighborhood Slow Zones.”

Unfortunately, the Mayor’s Office has only budgeted for two of these slow zones, so not everyone will have help from the City in streamlining safety improvements like speed cushions, 20 mph speed limits, eliminating sidewalk and crosswalk parking, and changing neighborhood traffic patterns. Applications are due between now and January 18th, 2019. 

Download the application

5th Square wants to help demonstrate that there is city-wide interest in the program in order to encourage OTIS to expand it more rapidly, so we’re compiling some resources to help citizen activists organize a Slow Zone application for their neighborhoods.

First, we’ve created a map of arterial streets and commercial corridors, which form the “boundaries” of the Slow Zones. While OTIS has decided most of these streets are off-limits for traffic calming, you can use them to help you refine the boundaries you choose in your application. The map also includes information about neighborhood Registered Community Organizations (RCOs), whose support will be critical in advancing your application.

View the map

Next, we’ve created some sample slow zone maps to get the ball rolling:

View the sample slow zones

For our example slow zones, we’ve started creating a sample application, and begun compiling our own list of potential stakeholders to organize around the neighborhood. Check out the example list from South Philly to start thinking about who you can ask to join a campaign in your neighborhood.

Finally, we’ve compiled a list of RCO contact information for you to get in touch with your local RCOs. Enter your address at MyPhilly.org to see which RCOs claim you as a constituent.

Links:

• Slow Zone Application Form (pdf)
• Arterials and Commercial Corridors Map
• Sample Slow Zone Maps
• Find my RCO
• RCO Contact Information
• Sample Stakeholder Letter of Support
• Find Your Councilperson
• Sample Councilperson Letter of Support

If you have further questions or want to get connected with other people in your neighborhood from our email list to start a Slow Zone campaign, email us at [email protected].