Spruce and Pine Streets bike lane and loading zone ticketing delayed
The loading zones are installed on each block along the two streets as a way for commercial vehicles to be able to load and unload without stopping in bike lanes.
As part of Philadelphia’s plan to create protected bike lanes on Spruce and Pine Streets in Center City, officials created special loading zones so commercial vehicles had some place to park.
But a two-week enforcement warning period for those bike lanes and loading zones, which had been set to begin Thursday, has been delayed briefly because of issues installing signs, according to Philadelphia Parking Authority spokesperson Marty O’Rourke.
He said that, after the signs are installed, violators would have a two-week warning period before ticketing begins by the PPA, a state agency.
O’Rourke said issues stemmed from getting permission to dig around utilities, so the two-week grace period had to be delayed.
“Hopefully, the signage and everything will have full clearance, and the installation of signs will take place and be complete sometime in the next two weeks,” O’Rourke said. “At which point, the warning period will start.”
After that warning period ends, violators will face a fine of $125.
The loading zones are installed on each block along the two streets as a way for commercial vehicles to be able to load and unload without stopping in bike lanes, which run from Front to 22nd Streets along Spruce and Pine and will be marked by “No Stopping Anytime” signs at curbside.
The bike lanes and loading zones have drawn the ire of some residents because of the already-scarce parking on Pine and Spruce Streets. Residents have been allowed to park on the streets since 1981.
The loading zones are meant to complement the city’s new ban on vehicle drivers stopping in bike lanes by giving residents, delivery trucks, and contractors a place to stop on each block so they don’t need to clog the bike lane.
The loading zones are installed on each block of Spruce and Pine, between Front and 22nd Streets. And “No Stopping Anytime” signs are being placed along the entire length of each bike lane.
Members of Friends of Pine & Spruce, a nonprofit organized after passage of the no-stopping bill last October, say the zones eliminate 30% of parking spaces, impose hardships on residents, and make the streets more dangerous for everyone.
» READ MORE: Pine and Spruce Street residents sue over Philly’s efforts to upgrade bike lanes
The group sued in early June after its efforts to stop the city from proceeding failed, arguing that the Philadelphia Streets Department’s loading-zone plan and other city efforts to beef up the bike lanes amount to “arbitrary and capricious government actions” that exceed the current authority of relevant ordinances, according to the complaint.
The neighborhood advocacy group also opposes the city’s plan to add low concrete barriers to separate the bike lanes from motor-vehicle traffic.
The streets department created the new loading zones by regulation. Opponents say that changes to city ordinances, which would be more difficult to achieve, are required first.
The suit cites the Streets Department and the Philadelphia Office of Infrastructure and Transportation Systems as defendants.