On the heels of Inga Saffron’s Friday column, a revisit to BCJ’s Station Square
design study from not so very long ago…
Station Square and the Post Office
13 Jan3 Responses to “Station Square and the Post Office”
Leave a Reply
shop
Kelly Drive is an online gallery of home decor proud to display the work of regional artists, designers, and artisans.
photos
|
I hadn’t seen that column. I’m glad I’m not the only one upset about the new post office at 30th St. It’s an absolute disgrace. They made it look even more like a parking garage, not a post office. It’s away from any pedestrian traffic whatsoever – they might as well have placed it in the middle of an I-76 exit ramp – it’s ugly as sin, and it doesn’t look like a post office retail space at all. Ugh.
I can’t say I’m stoked about the design study, either. Yes, the space needs much better pedestrian flow, but there are some real problems with that plan. This eliminates the west driveway where the taxi stand is now (it was relocated this past year.) It also eliminates any driveway on the south side, which would eliminate Amtrak’s ability to re-arrange traffic flow around the station (such as moving the taxi stand again).
They’re also vastly underestimating the need for turning lanes on that block. Just park your butt there for five minutes and you will see the turning lanes need to be longer, if not doubled up, not made shorter as this plan calls for. People from west Philly need to get to I-76 west, and this is the main point where that happens. When the turning lane gets backed up, it blocks the flow of traffic along Market St. It’s already a bottleneck to both I-76 and Market St into the city. Don’t make it worse. Plus, with the new Cira Centre South skyscrapers going up, the lane to turn south off Market will surely become much more important.
I’d love to see something more pedestrian-friendly, but something truly hostile to vehicles is not smart for our city, especially at such a crucial junction. I’m saying this as someone who is a frequent pedestrian in that area and does not even own a car.
Also, the appendix table of contents seems to show it in the background graphic, but it bothers me that more attention isn’t paid the one thing 30th Street needs more than anything, and that’s an underground walkway between the train station and the subway station. It’s absolutely insane that this already exists, (yes, it does!) but remains closed, and they refuse to re-open or replace it.
I completely agree with the need for concourse between 30th Street and the subway… which is really part of the larger issue of the city overlooking West Philadelphia development. The revitalization of Market Street in the in the early 1950′s stopped short of the Station (as evidenced by the string of adult stores and parking lots at 21st and westward) and only recently has attention been paid to this corridor. Station Square is just one end of a potentially-booming commercial district that stretches through University City and beyond… Look for an upcoming thread on this in the days to come.
It’s not like my alma mater Drexel has done the corridor any favors over the years. If they pay any attention to aesthetics at all, it’s mostly in other areas of campus. A giant bronze Disney-style dragon does not count. The new 32nd Street Walk with the color-changing LED columns is equally silly.
Actually, that’s not completely fair. They did put an I.M. Pei building on Market, and the renovated athletic center is supposed to have a glass facade that fronts Market and provides pedestrian interaction.
But they should really be doing more to make that a nice corridor, and that does not mean removing most of the trees, as they have done so far. It is the center of their campus.